The 8 Things I Did to Melt Off Body Fat

Before the move back to Cleveland in late March, I knew my body fat was the highest it had been in a long time. For the first time, probably ever, I didn't like to have my shirt off around people and I really didn't like what I saw in the mirror in the morning. I knew I had let myself go with the stress of managing a team, less emphasis on my workouts, and eating like an absolute asshole. The change of pace in my life that came after the move was the perfect opportunity to refocus on losing fat, getting shredded, and getting confidence back.

I not only decided that I was going to lose fat, but that I was going to use EVERYTHING I knew about fat loss all at once and see how fast I could get shredded. I put those things into a list in a general order of importance for you all. Number 1 is the most important and can get you some results and number 7 will do damn near NOTHING if you don't have the rest of the list down. There can be some leeway in the order but overall it sits pretty well. Bottom line is make sure you start at the top of the list and, once you've got that one down, work your way down. As for my results so far, I started this 2 weeks before I got to Cleveland but did not do my body fat. My first week a Life Time the Inbody put me at 15.1% and yesterday it put me at 11.6% which is a 3.5% decrease in 4 weeks. The goal is under 10% on the Inbody ASAP. Now to the list. 

1.Eat real food

This is the obvious place to start. Stop eating garbage and start eating things that are actual food. Clearly we all know this, but when it really hit home for me was when I was listening to a podcast with Mike Dolce (you'll probably hear that name a lot in this post) and he said "Stop poisoning yourself with synthetic chemicals, artificial sweeteners, and artificial colors. Just stop poisoning yourself". At that time, my meal prep wasn't super existent and I was living off of protein bars and Bang at work. It struck a cord with me and I catch myself saying it in my head multiple times a day. Another great and simple way to think about it is this; eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, lean meat, healthy fat and whole grains in the most natural and minimally processed forms are you can. Stick to this and you will be lean and healthy, guaranteed.

Some of the swaps I personally made were to be a real adult and cook some meals, switch my post workout Gatorade powder for OJ and cranberry juice, cut out most protein bars in favor of food, and vastly reduce my energy drink consumption for black coffee and green tea.

2. Eat enough real food to start, then decrease over time

Once you've made this switch to actual food, now we need to look at amounts. Notice I don't start right away with "Eat less!' but simply "Eat enough". As crazy as it sounds, most people spend most days not eating enough total calories and their metabolisms take a beating from that (especially when those same people overeat on the weekends). So we need to get your food up to a decent baseline to start before we can cut the amount down. One of the biggest complaints I hear from extremely successful weight loss programs like the Renaissance Periodization templates or Mike Docle's "3 Weeks to Shredded" is that there is so much food at the beginning that people can't even eat it all! I do the same thing with my clients to make sure their eating up to a caloric neutral before they start to cut.

Once you're there (bodyweight should be maintaining or decreasing) then simply make small changes in the amount of food you eat each day. Based on your body type and preference, I would reduce either carbs or fat. I would definitely not reduce protein so keep that as high as ever. Make a change then give it some time. Once progress slows then reduce a little more. You really do not need to over complicate it.

The decreases I have been making have been to reduce the rice and sweet potatoes in my meal preps, and removing some of my post-cardio, pre-lifting OJ and fruit. Next week will be almost no rice in my prepped meals (probably 1/4 cup) as my next decrease.

3. Drink a lot of water

I shouldn't need to spend a lot of time on this. Water is important so drink it! Plus, when you finally give your body the amount of water it wants, you'll actually reduce your bloating and water weight because your body won't feel the need to hold on to as much. That alone can make you look leaner! I usually recommend 1 gallon a day to most people so buy a reusable water bottle (preferably not plastic, I don't care if it says "BPA Free") and math it out to see how many you need to drink a day. Don't forget to add extra for workouts and more is not always better so you don't need to be putting away 2-3 gallons a day.

4. Progressive overload based resistance training 

Notice that this is ahead of cardio of a list about fat loss. Weight training will not only build more muscle to help you burn more calories, but it will also give your body better signals about storing and burning fat, as well as have powerful hormonal effects to get and keep you lean. Ideally, you should start a program that uses a lot of compound movements, has varying rep ranges, utilizes tempo time-under-tension techniques, and follows progressive overload. If you want all of that in one then keep and eye out for the release date of the Herceg Size Cycle 2.0 coming in the next few weeks. It has all of the above plus more! Fill out that annoying pop-up you probably clicked away from if you want access to a copy for yourself.

5. Fasting morning LISS

For a long time I thought fasted cardio was useless. Not that it was bad, just not any more effective than fed cardio. This opinion was based on people I trust and a meta-analysis of a ton of studies on both forms of cardio. BUT, when enough of the majorly influential fitness people in your life say they use it with everyone who wants to get lean, you set your ego aside and take a listen. Primarily, those two people were Jason Ferruggia and Mike Dolce, who I know you've seen pop up a few times in my blogs and posts. Check them both out for some awesome info. 

Long story short, Low Intensity Steady State Cardio (LISS) in a fasted state can be beneficial for fat loss. The LOW intensity part is super important and I think where most people mess this up. At lower heart rates, your body is more likely to use fat as a fuel source. Combine that with a fasted state (thus a lack of insulin) and your body is in the best state to burn fat. Again, more is not better so aim for a heart rate between 90 and 110 BPM. Too much higher and your body will begin to use carbs to fuel your workout. 

I have been cycling my LISS to prevent burnout so mine looks like this.

Monday: 60 minutes

Tuesday: 45 minutes

Wednesday: 30 minutes

Thursday: 60 minutes

Friday: 45 minutes

Saturday: 30 minutes

Sunday: off

I do 3 miles per hour and adjust the incline to what I need to keep my heart rate in that zone. This cycle also pairs perfectly with my weight lifting program and gives me a ton of time to listen to podcast and learn. It was actually where I came up with the idea for this post as well as a lot of other cool things to come!

6. Carb cycling based on activity

This is what Precision Nutrition would call a "Level 2 strategy" and something that most people shouldn't need to worry about. But since I want to get stupid lean this year I added it in. Basically, carbs are your main fuel source for your workouts so some days require more than others. Simply, you eat more carbs on the days where your workouts take more energy and less carbs on the days your workouts take less energy. I eat the most carbs on Mondays (Squats, legs, and core) and the least carbs on Thursday, and Sundays (off days). The other days stay pretty even as they are all about the same energy expenditure.

7. Supplements

Sometimes, this is the first thing people default to and skip aaaaalll these other steps above. Really, any fat loss supplements will not do very much and will do damn near nothing if steps 1-6 are not in check. If you have every one of these other steps down, there are some products I like by the company 1st Phorm that you can try. I started this cut with the DB-Overdrive Fastpack and since have gone back to a stack I've used in the past, the Royal 21 King System. Both are similar but the DB comes with a greens powder which is cool, and the 21 King comes with a sleep supplement that I personally love. Both seem good so far but the DB is a newer product are probably more potent.

8. Green tea

Last thing on this list is green tea. Clearly the least important (could be swapped with 7) but it is something I added recently so I wanted to talk about it. This is another Dolce recommendation which he mentioned in a podcast and added to his "3 Weeks to Shredded" book. Basically, I added green tea to my meals 3 times a day. Green tea and green tea extract (found in many fat burners) has been said to have some thermogenic properties and can aid in some fat loss. According to Mr. Dolce 1 cup is good, 2 is better, but 3 is where you start to see some real fat loss benefits. 

Outside of that, green tea is just genuinely healthy and most people can benefit from it. I bought Salada organic green tea for a good price on sale and have been drinking that. 

So there you have it! Everything I've been doing to melt off body fat so I was able to regain my confidence and get ready for summer! Give these a try and don't forget to start from the top of the list!

Increase Gains With This Shake 36/84

There really aren't very many true "secrets" in the fitness industry. I don't care what magazines or the internet tells you, there's only a few basic things that you need to get really good at to get and maintain the body and health that you want. That being said, the closet thing I have to a secret that I tell my clients about is an intra-workout shake. This shake is a combination of carbs and protein that you sip on during your workout then finish once your done. In my opinion, this is extremely important and anyone should use whether you're trying to build muscle or lose fat.

Intra-workout shakes are something that I've been messing with since undergrad at Ball State. A professor mentioned during that class protein and carbs together can results in better muscle and strength gains than either one on their own. At this point, I started adding Gatorade to my protein powder and I've pretty much never looked back.

The reason that adding carbs to your protein works so well is because of that little hormone called insulin. Whenever you consume carbs, insulin is released to shuttle the carbs to where the body needs them. This could be muscle or it could be fat. During and after your works out, insulin will shuttle much, much more of it into starving muscles. So here's the trick, the insulin doesn't just take the carbs with it. If you have protein waiting there as well, the insulin will shuttle both of them into the muscle super quick. This means that your muscles are never at a loss for protein and you have it waiting right there when it needs it to heal itself and make the muscle bigger. This will also guarantee that you prevent any muscle loss during exercise, which is why it's just as important during a Cut as it is during a Mass.

At this point, some people may be asking about BCAAs and thinking that they can do the same. People usually use BCAAs for that same reason, to prevent muscle loss and make sure you have amino acids floating around waiting to be used. There are a couple reasons why I don't like this when compared to protein and carbs. One reason is that there are no carbs to release insulin and increase absorption rate. This makes it less effective for recovery than when you do have carbs. The second reason is more on personal preference, I would rather spend less money on whey protein, which includes all of the BCAAs in it, then spend more money on just a BCAAs supplement.  All in all, I'm not a huge fan or BCAAs and think they're one of the more overrated supplements on the market. Right now, the major data says they results in around a 1-3% benefit over the span on the year. For most people, I don't think that's worth the cash.

Personally, my shake went through different iterations over the years, but for the last year and a half it's been about the same. It started with a scoop of protein with a bottle of Gatorade, then when to one scoop of protein with a carb supplement from 1st Phorm, and how has become 2 scoops of protein with 1-2 scoops of Gatorade powder. This latest shake is a result of the recommendations from Renaissance Periodization from my I got my first template from them. Like I said, I have been doing this for about a year and a half and I swear by it now. You can use any powder that has sugar in it like Gatorade, Tang, Nesquik, a dextrose supplement, or whatever else you want. Now this part is important... DON'T WORRY THAT THIS IS MADE WITH SUGAR, THAT IS THE ENTIRE POINT! You need the sugar to create the best insulin response, and not only will this not make you fat and kill you, it will make you bigger, stronger, and healthier.

Try adding this to your routine and I think you'll be surprised. For women, start with 1 scoop of protein and 1/2-1 scoop of Gatorade. For men, do 1-2 scoops of protein with 1-2 scoops of Gatorade. I usually do 1 scoop during a Cut and 2 scoops during a Mass. Sip 1/2 of the shake during your workout then drink the other 1/2 once your done!

How to Get Started 33/84

Ok so I'll be honest, I probably should have put up a post like this at the very beginning of this endeavor, but I also didn't really have a plan or quite know what I was doing yet. Even now that I'm over a month in, this post is just as important because new people are seeing these posts every single day. Even people who have been following for a bit will be able to take away something from this. I'll break this post down into four part; resistance training, nutrition, cardio, and supplements and talk about where I recommend someone who is brand new start on each one. Even if you have been in the game for a while but don't do some of these things, I would take a step back and make sure you have the basics covered before you proceed much further.

Resistance Training

First off, resistance training covers a lot of different things; lifting weights, using machines, bodyweight exercises, and resistance bands, to name a few. The benefits of resistance training include building muscle on a bulk, maintaining muscle on a cut, increasing strength, increasing mobility, lowering blood pressure, decreased risk of mortality and a ton of other things. The idea that lifting is just for meathead bodybuilders or athletes is long gone. Everyone, and I mean everyone, can benefit from some form a resistance training.

When you're just starting, I would recommend you do mostly full body workouts and do them 2-3 times per week. You're going to be pretty sore that first week so don't go crazy. Start with the basics and learn some exercises to squat, hinge, push, pull, and carry. These are the fundamentals that everyone should be able to do. You can add couple exercises for biceps or pecs or whatever, but the majority of your program should revolve around those five basic movements.

I usually recommend free weights and bodyweight exercises to most people, but if you have no experience at all, then machines can have some benefit. Your muscles are still working and you can still get stronger. I would definitely not rely on machines for too long, but they can help you get started.

My normal recommendation for sets and reps is 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps on most exercises. This is the perfect place to beginners. 8 reps being the lowest makes it so you can go too heavy and 12 being the highest will reduce some of the total volume that you do. You also only need 1-2 exercises per muscle group, per workout to get great starting results.

Lastly, don't be afraid to go and use the equipment and the free weights! I'm dead serious when I say that no one is actually watching you or cares what you're doing. Don't be worried that you look silly or that people are judging you, they're really not. One way to help get over this fear is to have a good program that tells you what exercises to do, that way you know that you're doing exactly what you should be.

Nutrition

This is always such a tough one to start doing. Not only is it extremely important, but most people either already have a terrible relationship with food or have no idea what eating healthy really is. The first thing I would do is to just take some time and become more aware of what you're eating. Turn off the T.V,  put your phone down, and actually focus on your food. See how it tastes, see how it makes you feel, realize how much food really satisfies you. You also need to make a baseline of how much you're eating right now. This could be tracking macros or not, just have some reference point. I would also start consciously making healthier choices each day. You don't have to be 100% for each meal every single day, especially when just starting out, though. The point here is to build good, lifelong habits, not starve and deprive yourself.

Here's the basic food types to focus on; fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, and healthy fats. If the majority of your meals consist of these things, you're way ahead of almost everyone. Try to eat these things as often as possible and you'll make great progress. You should also increase the protein you eat (via lean meats usually) because most people are not currently getting enough protein in their diet. For my meals, I eat my protein and my veggies first before I even touch my carbs or fats. If you can fill up mostly on those, you'll eat less total food and be less hungry throughout the day.

Cardio

Since I've began posting on this blog, I've been getting a few questions about whether I actually think cardio is a waste of time, so I want to set that straight here. Cardio and conditioning are both really important from the health perspective. They help with blood pressure, resting heart rate, heart and lung health, and help with recovery from sport and exercise. BUT, with that being said, no form of cardio really has much of an effect on fat loss. This has been proven time and time again by research, most recently in a meta analysis of hundreds of different studies on the topic. It's very clear that diet has, by far, the biggest effect on fat loss, but you still need to do some cardio and conditioning.

I would start by building your base with some basic workouts. I love a 2-mile walk at an incline as well as something easy like a 30 minute bike ride. Depending on where you're starting, a walk/jog interval workout can be a good starting point as well. Eventually, I like to work people into sprint intervals but you need to build that base first. 1-2 cardio sessions a week is all you need for that. Things like playing games and sports are another great way to get some cardio in as well,

Supplements

I'll start with this; you need to get you diet together, at least mostly, before you even worry about supplements. Supplements are exactly for that, supplementing your food, not replace it. With that being said, the two main purposes for supps are to fill in any nutritional gaps that are missing from your diet and for convenience in certain situations. I don't care how perfect you diet is, there is still an extremely high chance that you are deficient in something. The only way to really know is to get blood work done, but that is definitely NOT where I would start.

The basics I would recommend are a multivitamin or greens drink, fish oil or other Omega-3, and a protein powder for you intra/post workout. Some people talk down on multi-v's but I think they are a good place to start if you have one that's actually good. Fish oil, on the other hand, is well proven to be extremely good for joint, skin, heart, and brain health. It's seriously amazing and important. Protein powder fits in to the "convenience" category and it not essential. But it is easier and faster to drink a shake during your workout instead of eating a chicken breast. And yes, I do recommend sipping 1/2 your shake during your workout and drinking the rest after. I also mix mine with some carbohydrates to increase the speed that it is absorbed. I do 1 scoop of Gatorade powder and 2 scoops of protein.



Hopefully these tips can get you up and moving and give you a place to start.  I know a lot of this can be overwhelming so please reach out if you need help. I will help you, and if I can't I'll send you to someone who can.  Finally, My Free Fat Loss and Free Muscle Gaining Tips are done! And I have to say that they're looking pretty awesome and I'll be emailing the to all of my subscribers soon. Those will be free to anyone who subscribes here. Right now you'll also get a free copy of the Nutrition Template that I use for myself and my clients. Subscribing will also let you join the private Facebook group that I just opened (I fixed the link). This group will allow for much more engagement with each other than my Facebook page so I can make sure you guys are getting all of the info you need.

See you tomorrow!

Facebook: Greg Herceg - Personal Trainer
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