Well I moved come over to the new site at http://www.cintronathletictraining.com/

The Importance Of Cheat Day

One question that I have been getting asked a lot is how can I miss out on all of the good foods when I go to an event or go out to eat with my family.  Well, I don't miss out on anything. One thing that I found out before I started doing IF Fasting is that our Leptin level recognizes that we are trying to lose weight so it adjusts which causes the body to stop losing weight.  That is one reason why lots of people who drop weight but then hit a plateau and don't go down in weight anymore.  That is because their body has adjusted to the calories that they are now eating.  I know this may sound crazy but one day out of the week that I chose for my cheat day is Saturday.  From the time I wake up until noon I fast and then I eat whatever I want until 9:00pm. My menu for this past Saturday consisted of coffee with hazelnut flavoring and a coffee roll.  In the afternoon, I and my family went to a Columbian Restaurant where I ate this:

This was grilled skirt steak, corn cake with cheese, lettuce, French fries and rotisserie chicken that my daughter did not finish.  Later for dessert I had crumb cake. This type of eating has helped me was my IF Fasting.  In fact, a couple of hours before I took my transformation picture for the AMF (Athletic Muscle Formula) program I ate a Philadelphia cheese steak with French Fries.  Does it look like I am missing out on anything with these pictures???

So, cheat day is very important and you will be a happier person and so will your family.  You can go out and enjoy a party or local dinner with no worries about hurting your training. You will make better gains because of this process since your body won’t have a chance to adjust to the changing of calorie intake. Just remember that this is only for one day.  You eat good for 6 days out of the week and then have your cheat day.

I have been asked a lot of questions regarding the AMF program I use that help change the way I look. This program does not use anything fancy so all you need are dumbbells, a barbell and body weight exercises.  These workouts can be done in any local gym. Click on the link to the right of my page that says “28 Day Muscle” to see the program that transformed me.

            

28 Day Athletic Muscle Formula

I have been asked a lot about the AMF program that I used to help change how I look. This program does not use anything fancy all you need  are barbells, dumbbells and body weight exercises. These workout can be done in any local gym. Click on the link to the right of my page that says 28 Day Muscle.To see the program that changed me.

11 Things I did during the 28 Day AMF Program

These are the 11 things that I did that helped me transform during the 28 day AMF program.

1.  Having used Travis Stoetzel programs before I believed in him and I knew the program would work. I did not jump from program to program.
2.  I did 100% IF Fasting during the entire program.
3.  I took Branched Chained Amino Acids before and after every workout. I believe this helped me keep as much muscle as possible while fasting.
4.  I did lots of foam rolling and myofascial work. This helped me reduce soreness and prevent injuries. This was a big plus added to my training.
5.  Sweet potato was my number one carbohydrate every night except on my cheat day.
6.  I had to force myself to take a cheat day so my leptin levels would go back to normal.  I needed to shock it back at the beginning of the week.
7.  Instead of jumping up big weight numbers every workout I went up slowly in order to prevent injury.
8.  Take extra days off.  I had to realize that I do not have the recovery of a younger guy so I would take extra days off if I needed during the week.  I never work out on the weekend to recover and to spend time with my family.  
9.  Working out to get results is a war but you must look at the workout as a battle which will help you win the war.  A war is not won in a day but won over time.  This same principle applies to working out.
10.  I made sure I had the biggest meal post workout with as much protein as possible.
11.  Be motivated.  I wanted to prove to all the people that have doubted me and told me that I could not do this or that I do not have the genetics to do this……and I have. 

AMF Transformation Another Cycle Later Did I Improve?

After the 28 day transformation I took a week to deload and I went  on another 28 day cycle. The second phase ended yesterday and today I put up pictures. I will compare all three phases to see if I improved did worse or stayed the same. In the second cycle I went up about 20 or more pounds on all my lifts. So lets compare the Photos.

   

        

AMF Workout Third Week AND Daily Log

If fasting

Coffee with Vanilla in the morning and water

2:00BCAA

WOD
Foam Rolling

A1) Barbell Jerks 5x5 115,115,115,125,125
A2) Toes to bar leg raise 5x10

B1) Renegade rows 4x10
B2) Chain pushups descending sets 4 set to failure ( Video of this will be up soon)

4 sets of
C1) kb swings 62lbs 12 reps
C2) burpees
C3) medicine ball planks 30-60 seconds
Do over two sets on med ball planks
Post workout BCCAA plus 3 clif bars

Dinner Steak 2 sweet potatoes and slice of avocado with water

Beginner Bodyweight Complex

I keep getting asked what is the best way to tone up the abs and hips. Well you can not make your body lose inches from a desired spot. Working out and your body does not work  like that. You need to work the body as a whole unit. I don't train isolation. One of the best ways to build muscle and drop body fat without spending tons of time on a hamster wheel(AKA the treadmill) is by doing complex's . I wish I had been doing these a lot sooner in my training before. These workouts are very hard and short but the hit the entire body. You can use bodyweight,dumbbells, barbell,sandbags and even kettlebells with them. The following workout was :

The Workout is
A1) 10 Pushups
A2) 10 Bodyweight Squats
A3) 10 Lunges
A4) 10 Planche Knee Ups

This should be done for 5 rounds with little or no rest.Two to three times a week  at the end of the workout. If 10 reps is to hard do 5 then trying to build up to 10 reps after that go up to 15 reps then build up to 20 reps. When you can  do 20 reps with no rest. for those that do not have weights take a back pack and add a book or books for extra resistance . Also if you can't do full pushups do them from your knees until you get stronger. The is a simple but effective workout please give it a try.

Crossfit Burpees in 7 minutes

The crossfit qualifier's is now open. Even though I did not register I wanted to see how I would do on the workouts. I will try to do all 5 workouts  and I may  have to substitute some of the exercises because I don't have all the things that crossfit uses. I was able to get 61 burpees in the 7 minutes. I think some of my reps would have been called back. This was a very rough workout I can see  I have lots of room for improvement.

PIctures of Before and After 28 AMF program

Below are the pictures of my before and after my 28 day transformation.

Travis Stoetzel 's 28 Day AMF LAST WORKOUT

Well first off I want to thank Zack Even Esh because of him I found out who Travis Stoetzel is. Travis is a certified coach under Zach Even Esh from the Underground Gym. I started watching Travis's videos on youtube about a year and half ago and all I saw with this big ripped up dude doing some hardcore no BS workouts. Travis at the time did not have a program out so I just read everything he would put on his blog and his videos trying to do what I could without any set programming. Then it happened Travis came out with Bags ,Bells and bodyweight program.I bought it the instant it came out. I used the barbell in place of the sandbag as there was no way for me to get one and I wasn't going to let a piece of equipment get in my way. During week 6 it happened I hurt my shoulder doing power cleans something moved inside. I was in deep pain and went to the Dr. who told me I had rotator  cuff injury plus shoulder impingement. Well what was I going to do. I  lowed my weights and continued eating  good and training with what I could do. I sent Travis and email with my before and after picture's and those are on his testimonial page. Fast forward in September 19th I had cochlear ear implant surgery as I only have 7% hearing left. I was told to not workout at all for 6 weeks. This was a nightmare the pain from the surgery was bad enough but not working out was killing me.I lost weight and got flabby no matter how hard I tried eating well.The last two weeks of 2011 all I did was work  and not workout because of the holidays. Then Travis came out with the 28 day AMF program and I saw my picture on his testimonial. I had been playing with IF fasting and researching it. I felt that I could have achieved better results if I was able to do my upper body. So I read up more on If fasting and came up with my own program on that.  I may just write about it and sell it. You see unlike most I am also 42 and I do not recuperate like Travis or someone younger than me but I do not use that as an excuse. So far the last 28 days I have been busting my butt doing Travis's AMF program with IF fasting I think I have made some very good improvements when I take my pictures tomorrow I will be able to tell. I will take a deload week. The only workout I plan to hit hard is the crossfit open workout.After this I will do another 4 week cycle because I still have not hit my goal.In the video's  you will see is from my gym that I share in my coop it is not a hardcore gym heaviest dumbbell is 80 pounds and I had to be them for . 90 percent of the time I am alone in this gym today I had people there but that was not going to stop me at all. One benefit of having hearing loss is that I take the implant off so I don't hear anyone at all. I just get in the zone. So this is for Travis I hope I did you proud on your program.

 

John

No Frills Power Endurance Workout

  

I get asked a lot by people what do I train for. My workouts are not for bodybuilding anymore. I look at pictures when I trained this way and my muscles looked different  than they do know. I don't train to get bigger. I feel in love with the Strength and conditioning aspects of BJJ when I competed because that was something that I always so go in competition . So I train a lot for power endurance and trying to have the most amount of functional muscle with least amount of fat.There are so many tools out there that are marketed to get you in condition. But what if you do not have money or your gym does not have the equipment?Does this mean you are doomed? I did 3 power endurance workouts today one was Thrusters with 95 lbs for as many reps possible in 4 minutes.  From there I went into burpees to pullups as many reps as possible in 5 minutes. Then I did 2 rounds of dumbbell overhead walks followed by 80 pound dumbbell farmer's walk with no rest. The only time I rested was as long as  it took to set up the camera. Remember as you get tired your form starts to break just like when you wrestle or do BJJ. This is why we train like this.

Half Your BodyWeight Clean and Jerk Press As Many Reps Possible in 4 Minutes

Last week and article in Sports Illustrated came out on a wrestling Coach Mike Powell who was fighting a disease  called Polymyositis. Before this  Coach Powell had always been the strongest guy in the weight room. He would do all the drills with his wrestlers and challenge them and he would always beat them. This article was very moving to me. If you  want to know more just google the article in Sports Illustrated. One of the workouts that he challenged the wrestlers with was 1/2 your body weight Clean and Jerk Press for as Many Reps in 4 Minutes. So I decided to do this workout today I was a little cautious as this is the exercise that hurt my shoulder in June. I was able to get 31 reps in 4 minutes with 85 lbs nothing great but I did it. Considering all that someone like Coach Powell has been dealing with I feel lucky for all that I am able to do. below is the video of my workout.