Getting Started - A Look At Body For Life

Hello All!

I would first like to say that I love love love the Body For Life principal. Bill Phillips, who created this book did a great job. It was very motivational and easy to follow. This post will highlight the workout and eating structure of this plan. As I have said in my first post that one size does not fit all but this plan is a great way of getting started. My husband bought me this book as a Christmas gift. I know what you are thinking.. why in the world would he give you that for Christmas?! I was not mad but very grateful because I was a bit lost as to how to get started. He knew my struggles and this helped me along. The great thing is we did this together and in the end looked and felt a ton better. Below I have outlined what this particular plan entails.

Eating-for Life Method

The principal behind this is pretty simple.

-Eat four to six small meals a day, one meal every two to three hours.
-Drink at least 10 cups of water per day.
-Eat a portion of protein and high quality carbs at each meal.

It sounds daunting but it's not that hard. I only found that drinking that much water was a bit tough. A portion of protein is easy to measure out. Simply use the palm of your hand to gauge a portion. There is no real need to measure. The same thing goes for the carbs. If you have say brown rice then just use your palm once again as a gauge. I recommend to load up on the veggies. Tons of good fiber and it helps make you feel more full. Add some healthy fats like olive oil and you are golden.
Some of the meals in between like meal number 2 and 4 are using things like protein shakes. EAS's Myoplex  shakes are pushed pretty heavily in the book. I will review these kind of supplements later but this is good for the program. It has all three items - protein, carbs, and water.
You do get one cheat day. I had my rest day and cheat day all in one but you pick what's right for you. The thought behind the cheat day is that you stay on track for the rest of the week. Caution - it is easy to get carried away on your cheat day. Don't undo what you worked for all week. I found for me that one cheat meal was good enough.

Strength Training

The book has an exercise guide. I won't go into two much detail about each exercise and for what body part but just a quick overview. I will cover workouts later. He gives a breakdown of body parts - chest, shoulders, back, triceps, biceps, quads, hamstrings, calves, and abdominals. All of the workouts including  cardio are based on interval training. The idea behind this is you start out high repetition (12 reps) with lighter weights and work your way to 10 reps, 8, and finally to 6 with heavier weight. My dumbbells go up in 5lb increments so my workouts for say chest presses would start off with 15lbs. and finish off with 30lbs. You go back the 12 reps with the wieght you used for your 8 rep sequence and finish off with a different exercise for the same body part also at 12 reps.

Example:
Dumbbell Chest Press
12 @ 15lbs
10 @ 20lbs
8 @ 25lbs
6 @ 30lbs
12 @ 25lbs
Dumbbell Flies
12 reps @ 10lbs
Sounds complicated but once you get going it really isn't.

Cardio

The same method applies with your cardio. I run so I do this on the treadmill. The cardio is a 20 minute workout. Does not seem like much but if you play with the intensity (speed) you can get a pretty challenging workout and not spend a whole lot of time. Great for busy people. You would start out at a level 5 intensity and finish at 10. You pick what works but keep in mind each level is a minute long so make sure to pick a speed that is challenging but not so much you quit after the first 20 seconds.

Example:
Minute 1 & 2 - Level 5 (Warm up)
Minute 3 - Level 6
Minute 4 - Level 7
Minute 5 - Level 8
Minute 6 - Level 9
Minute 7 - Level 6
Keep doing this until minute 18
Minute 19 - Level 10
Minute 20 - Level 5 (Cool down)

This workout is a little complicated but well worth the effort to learn. After a couple of weeks you will find that it will come as second nature and will be a snap to do. I add some music from my IPod or now snag my son's  IPhone 5. I definitely need music to workout with especially the cardio!

The workouts are split up with three days of weight training and three days of cardio with one rest day. This is outlined below.

Monday - Upper body strength training
Tuesday - Cardio
Wednesday - Lower body strength training
Thursday - Cardio
Friday - Upper body
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Cardio
Monday - Lower body
...and so on.

Overall, this is a great plan. I really did well with it and continue to apply this workout method. Later, I will breakdown the different workouts for various body parts and their benefits. I look forward to hearing your comments, goals, and successes. Feel free to email me at krisonfitness@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading!