Running A Successful Bulking Phase Part 1 46/84

I'm not going to lie, bulking is way more fun than cutting. I don't think this would be news to anyone, especially because of the look on their face when I tell my weight loss clients that I'm trying to gain weight. With that being said, it's not the free-for-all that people think it is, and so many people do it way wrong. Bulking is not about eating all the food and getting as big as possible as fast as possible. That mentality is a really good way to get fat. Bulking is about gaining quality muscle mass while maintaining as much of the leanness you worked so hard for on your cut. The process should be slow, just like weight loss, and it needs to be just as well planned. In this post, I'll go over the nutrition points you need to focus on when bulking and in Part 2 I'll go over the workouts.

During a bulk, your goal should be to gain about 1 pound per week for men and closer to .5 for women. Any more than that and you are probably not gaining quite as much lean muscle as you can. Obviously, you're going to get a little bit of body fat while you're bulking but the goal is to try and keep it to a minimum while still gaining a good amount of muscle. There are a few main points that you should spend most of your time focusing on. I'll go through those as bullet points to make it easy.

Nutrition

Whether you're bulking or cutting, nutrition is going to be super important to making sure you actually make progress. Here are some basic recommendations that I live by when bulking

- Find your baseline then eat a little more. If your weight is stable right now then all you need to do is add a little more food and you'll start gaining weight. If you want to get more precise there are some macronutrient recommendations you can use.

- Aim for .8-1.0 grams of protein per pound that you weigh. Most people don't get enough protein each day and this might be all the extra calories you need to hit point 1. This mean a guy weighing 180 pound would need between 145 and 180 grams per day.

- Aim for .5-2.0 grams of carbs per pound that you weigh. Yes, I know this is a broad range but it depends on the volume and intensity of your workout for the day. On days you do workouts that are higher volume, you should eat more carbs and days you do less you should eat less cars. most workout days will be closer to .8-1.5 grams per pound. Conditioning days will be on the lower end, even if the "feel harder".

- Fill in the rest of your calories with healthy fats. If you are tracking calories and macros this will just make up the remainder if you daily calories.

- As you progress through your bulk, carbs and protein stay about the same but fat increases. There is a number of reasons for this; protein and carbs have optimal ranges that they should be consumed in but fat doesn't, and fat has the most calories per gram meaning you need to eat less to get more. Want to make this simple? Add a scoop of peanut butter to the end of each meal.

- Still focus on getting protein and veggies with each meal and spread you carbs and fats pretty evenly across your day. Make sure you still eat about 1 cup of veggies per meal, you're going to want the fiber with all the food you'll be eating.

- Make sure you're getting you intra-workout shake each workout. Not only will this help you get more calories in each day but it'll help prevent any potential muscle loss from workouts

- Get protein and fat right before bed. This will help you recover faster and prevent muscle loss when sleeping, I like to blend 2 scoops on whey with peanut butter but if you can get casein protein that will be much better.

- Once you stop gaining weight, increase fat by a couple servings a day and maintain that until you stop gaining again.

- Just like cutting, you'll need to take a maintenance phase about every 3 months to get your body used to your new weight. If you don't you'll quickly lose the weight you worked so hard to put on.

If you can get good at these things and combine them with the workout blueprint I'll be posting tomorrow then you're definitely going to have a successful bulk. Remember to take is slow and enjoy the process, don't just try to rush to the end. Finally, if you want to see what it's like to work with me for totally free then subscribe here and you can join the group of workout testers that I'll be starting with this Monday. You can read about the workout HERE and see the post I but up about it on Facebook HERE. Anyone is free to join so let me know!

See you tomorrow!

Facebook: Greg Herceg - Personal Trainer
Instagram: @Greg.the.Trainer
Email: gsherceg@gmail.com

Should You Try To Bulk Or Cut? 45/84

One of the first things I talk to everyone about when we first meet is their goals. Some people are very clear on what they need, because either they know they need to lose a significant amount of weight or they are already pretty lean. Although a lot of people fall into that, there are a ton of people who are conflicted and don't know which way to go.

Some people are already kind of skinny or kind of lean, but still want to get bigger and have bigger muscles. They may have some muscle already, but also still have some extra body fat. So for those people the question can arise of "which one do I tackle first?" Do you start with bulking and trying to get bigger? Or do you lose that extra bit of fat first? Let's figure it out.

The main question you need to ask is "How lean are you already?' There are a number of ways to figure this out but usually the best for the average person is a skinfold pinch test of some kind of bio-electrical impedance like InBody. If you have access to a Bod Pod, hydrostatic weighing or Dexa Scan those would be better but not everyone will have that option.

Once you know your body fat you can decide which way to go.  If you're a guy, I would recommend getting down to 10-12% body fat and for women you probably want to be under about 20% or less. Until you get to be this lean, you shouldn't worry about bulking at all. There are a couple reasons for this

For one, you're going to look more muscular or more toned when you get leaner. It sounds kinda weird but as you lose that extra body fat the muscles you already have are going to be more visible and you're going to look like you've added muscle. Definite bonus. Combine this with the small amount of muscle you can add in a cut and some people might just be good there.

Second, you're body works better when you're lean. A big part of that is attributed to hormones.  When you have less fat on your body, your insulin sensitivity is better (your ability to tolerate carbs), and you have better amounts of testosterone, growth hormones, and estrogen. If those things are out of wack (like when you're overweight) trying to add muscle won't work out too well and you'll probably end up gaining just as much fat as muscle.

When you're lean, it's easier to add muscle to your frame without adding too much fat. You'll probably still add a little but nothing too bad (if you're doing it right). If you have too much fat when you start, way too much of the weight you add is going to be fat and not muscle. This goes back to the hormones I mentioned and is obviously no good.

So the biggest question to ask yourself is how lean you are already. If your body fat is too high then cut first. If you're pretty lean already, you can start to add some quality mass. For my next few posts l detail how to run a successful cut and how to run a successful bulk. Once you decide which goal to work for, you'll have a good blueprint to follow to get there. If you still feel like you need more help then please reach out. I help people change their lives every day and I would love to help you too!

See you tomorrow!

Injury Free Training 44/84

Let's be honest here. Most people's goals should be long term. Unless you're competing in a sport, part of your goals should include building healthy habits and a sustainable lifestyle. Usually this means the goal is to not get hurt, and make consistent progress over years. Getting injured can put a huge damper on any progress and make a lot of people give up entirely. Even though there's usually way more you can do when hurt than people think, it's always just better to not get hurt in the first place. Here a few tips you can take and use to help make sure that you're preventing injury while still making gains.

-Work in your mobility/ flexibility

Although being more flexible doesn't automatically make you less likely to get injured, it's still important to be flexible enough and mobile enough to be able to get in the proper positions for exercises. Take the deadlift as an example. Although an extremely important and effective exercise, if your hamstrings don't allow you to get your back flat when the bar is on the floor then it becomes rather dangerous and not worth it. I'm situations like this, decrease the range of motion to a point where you can do the exercise perfectly.

-Barbells are not all that functional

Should you train with barbells? Probably. Do you have to? Not necessarily. Are they really all that functional? Not really. During every day life you're more than likely not going to be lifting a perfectly balanced bar with a grip width that fits your hand perfectly. Although I do include them in all of my programs, you need to train with other implements such as dumbbells, kettlebells, sand bags, medicine balls, and bodyweight exercises. Getting a good mix of all of those and making sure you're moving them properly is going to help ensure longevity.

-Use single arm/leg for muscular imbalances

Have you ever watched someone do a back squat and it just looks like absolutely crooked garbage? I have, and that's part of the reason most of my clients don't do barbell back squats until a while into our programs. When I do have a person like this, I often take them away from two leg squats for a while all together and work on single leg squats, step ups, and lunges. Things like this can help identify  and fix imbalances that can cause issues. If you just try to power through bad technique you could end up hurting yourself.

-Don't train to failure

Training to failure is a great way to burn yourself out and kill progress. You should be pushing yourself but alway leave 1-2 reps in the tank. Not only can this help you stay in the game longer, but there's not even any real research to prove training to failure results in more muscle gain.

-Don't get overhyped

Again, a great way to fry yourself out and kill progress. Things that fall into this include tons of preworkout, smelling salts, getting slapped up, and yelling/ grunting through reps. If you're going for a big deadlift PR then these things can help you smash weights, but they are definitely not things you should do every day or even every week.

-Don't to hard every day

This is kind of a culmination of the last two. You don't need to go hard and give 100% every single time you go to the gym. Killing yourself on every metcon, hitting rep PRs on every lift, and crushing yourself every day is going to lead to over training, burn out, and potentially injury. Work hard and try and do a little more every week but don't kill yourself. You'll be better off for it in the long run.

How Your Mindset Can Guarantee Success 43/84

Before you've even started a new challenge you've usually already decided wether you're going to succeed or not, even before your first step. It doesn't matter if we're talking about health, fitness, business, relationships, or anything else: the attitude you have when you start is almost always going to decide if you're going to be successful or not. Do you want to lose weight? Then you need to have to mindset of weight loss from day 1. Do you want to make more sales for your job? Then you need to have the mindset of a successful salesmen each and every day. If you don't believe that you're going to be successful then you've already decided that you won't. Because if you have that negative mindset when you start then you're going to be your own biggest barrier preventing yourself from doing it. That might sounds crazy to some people, but it might sounds super familiar to others.

Think about a time you've tried something and failed. We've all been there before. At first, you're probably making good progress, but pretty soon progress starts to slow and you start to doubt yourself. As soon as you start doubting yourself you start to think of all of the reasons why you won't be successful. Or, you start to think of all of the reasons why you don't really NEED to be successful. You start to justify failure in you're mind, you come to peace with it, and you quite.

Not let's look at the same vague example with a success mindset. You start making quick progress and everything is great. Then, when progress starts to slow, you realize that success comes in waves and that you just need to hold out until the next wave comes. You survive through the down period, making slow progress, then BAM! The wave comes back in and you start making huge steps again. When everyone else would have quit, the fact that you decided on success from the very beginning got you through the tough times and allowed you to continue.

If you've ever had a successful sales based job you know exactly what I'm talking about. Sales are always based on momentum (like most success) and when you hit that momentum you need to ride it as long as you can and do whatever you need to go keep that momentum up as long as you can. This really goes for anything.

You need to check your mindset and see where your thought are taking you. Can you see yourself succeeding in all of your goals? Can you see yourself 50 pounds lighter with a new life? Can took see yourself making twice as much money as you are now, with a new house and car? If not then you need to work on it, because this can be the single most important factor in your success if you learn how to harness it.

The biggest thing that has helped me so far is to try and learn every single day. Whenever I'm driving I have my phone plugged in with an audiobook or podcast playing. Every single time. When I wake up I listen too or read a book while I'm getting ready in the morning because it helps me each day with the right mindset. For me it's usually something fitness based, but I also listen to a lot of business and success books since it is just as important for me to be a good business man as it is for me to be a good trainer.

Adopting daily disciplines like this can be absolutely life changing. Maybe not overnight, but maybe so. I've been doing this for a few years how and I can honestly say I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't, and you wouldn't been reading this right now.

So think about how you can take advantage of this. How can you change your mindset so that you guarantee yourself success? What books could you read or podcasts can you find that will make you better? We're about to start a new week of a brand new month, seems like there's not better time to start than right now, so go get after it!

See you tomorrow!

The Halfway Point 42/84

Hey everyone! Big day today. On May 21st I started my weird journey of 84 blog posts in 84 days with almost no idea of what I was doing. What I did know is that I wanted to put a ton of free content out to anyone who would be willing to listen and try and help as many people as possible. Working as a personal trainer, it's my job to help people and I seriously love it. But the only issue is that I really wasn't able to help that many people, seeing as I only have about 20-25 clients. I realized that if I wanted to reach more people then I was going to have to use the power of the internet to do so. So far, it seems like its working a bit, my Facebook followers and post engagement is going up as well as clicks on my page. Those things don't mean a ton but it does mean that people are seeing what I put out and, in turn, hopefully I'm helping these people in one way or another.

This blog alone (really with my Facebook page) has given me the ability to go from helping a few people to helping a couple hundred people, and that's totally amazing! But I want to go bigger. A few hundred people is great but I want to get to a few thousand, or a few million, because I know that I have information that really can change people's lives. So far, I haven't posted a ton of those life changing stories because people seem to be a little self-conscious about me posting their progress pictures (which is totally understandable), but you better believe the proof is out there, and it's coming soon. An interesting correlation to increase my online presence is that my clients are starting to make better progress then they ever have before. I'm not 100% sure why that is happening but I'm not complaining, and neither are they! It probably has something to do with that fact that I have had to increase my already high amount of personal development that I was doing each day in order to have enough content to post to you guys. It also probably had something to do with my mindset of success which naturally projected onto my clients (weird stuff like that happens constantly). But whatever it was it's happening, my client are absolutely killing it and I love it! Hopefully, soon I'll have some progress pictures that I can post for you guys so you can see for yourself, but until then you'll just have to take my word for it!

In honor of this half way post I want to talk a little bit about the future and some new things that are going to be coming so that I can expand my help to as far as I possibly can. Other than these posts, I plan on getting more into making videos for you guys as well. I talked about this quickly on my first video but  I want to continue doing more in the future. The big reason behind that is because I realize that not everyone (most people) don't want to have to read a written post every day. Personally, if I could watch a video or just listen to audio then I would rather do that most of the time. This is going to be a big part of opening up a new YouTube channel for all of these to be posted on, which will help me reach more people by itself. On that channel, I'm also going to start recording and posting exercise demonstration videos for those of you who like to do the free workouts I post. This way, I'll be able to hyperlink right from the post on there to the direct video on exactly how I like exercises to be done. This alone will decrease a ton of the questions that people have and make it easier for you guys to get the workouts done the best way. Honestly, that's my next big step and I don't want to reveal too many of my other secrets for the future.

As the other part of this half way post, I want to link in a few of my most popular posts that I have published since this endeavor started. Obviously, these are the posts that people enjoyed the most so I want to make sure that as many people see them as possible!

To date, my most popular post is about what supplements I take. You can read it HERE if you haven't yet

Not surprisingly, my posts that include free workouts are the next few that are getting the most attention. This post on my women's fat loss and muscle building program is super popular and I really love that workout. Actually, to a point where I have my wife doing it

My other big free workout is the one that I am currently doing which is the Anti Dadbod workout. I've been doing it for 3 weeks now and I'm loving it. You can see the workout explained in Part 1 HERE and Part 2 with the workout HERE

My super informative post on toning came in up towards the top too, which is awesome. I had a lot of people at the gym ask me about this one in person so I'm glad I could get some good info out there. Learn what toning really means HERE.

The last one I want to repost is not one of my top posts, in fact it's BAR FAR my lowest. I still have no idea why because I believe it's a pretty important post, but to date it has an astoundingly low 10 views (which is hilarious)! THIS post is about why you need to worry more than just what the scale says and some other metrics you can use to track progress.

I'm super excited for the future with you guys and definitely these next 42 days, even though I'm running low on ideas! At least good ones. But regardless there are definitely some big things coming and I'm really pumped to be able to help as many people as possible. Finally, my newest and possibly best program is finished but I want to make it available only to my subscribers long before I give it out to the public. If you want to be one of the lucky few to test this new program for me then check out my last post and make sure you subscribe ASAP! I want to get a small group of people together to go through this workout together so let me know if you want in! I'll only be accepting 10 people for this so don't wait.

 See you tomorrow!

Facebook: Greg Herceg - Personal Trainer
Instagram: @Greg.the.Trainer
Email: gsherceg@gmail.com

Training Every Day for Gains 41/84

This is an interesting topic that hasn't come into the spotlight until recently. If you have been following along with me for a bit, you'll see that I have posted in the past about how I think some people train way too often and that they think that more is better. I've posted about how training too much can actually hurt progress in the long run and that training less frequently may be a better option. I've even cut my own training down to only 3 or 3.5 days of lifting per week. Although I feel that this has been working really well for me recently, this entire conversation all comes back to the "do what works best for you" principle that I preach more often than anything. This is where training every single day can actually be pretty beneficial for a lot of people. In this post, I want to get into how to train every day, what the benefits can be, and who could really benefit from this. Then, tomorrow, at the half way point of my promised 84 straight days of posting, I'm going to write up a free workout, based on this plan, that you guys will have access to.

So why the change of heart? After talking so much about training less, why am I now saying that it might be better for some people to train even more? Like I said in the intro, you need to find what's going to work best for you and hammer that. I'm not necessarily changing my opinion, just giving you more options. If it is better for you and your schedule to make it a habit of getting to the gym every day, at the same time, and running through a quick workout, then do that! The first time I was ever exposed to a workout like this was from a book called "Easy Strength" co-authored by Dan John and Pavel about 5 years ago. This workout was essentially doing the same 5 exercises every single day with next to no volume and almost no weight. Then slowly, almost immeasurably, increasing the volume each week until the point where you're way stronger than you were at the beginning. It's a super weird concept but apparently it works, especially since those two are two of the more established strength coaches in the world. More recently, one of my favorite coaches, Jason Ferruggia, discussed in a podcast about how he tried this for 3 months with great success. That's really were I got the idea to do this because I started thinking about the clients that I already work with that could benefit from it.


The biggest argument for training less often is that less volume is going to allow you to make sure that you're recovering super well from each workout. So what if you can take a 3 day a week workout, cut each day in half, and make it a 6 day a week workout? What if you take the exact same volume you did in 3 days and just do it over 6 days? Yes, your workouts would be shorter, probably around half the time, but that's really the point. And that's exactly what I plan to do. I started out with a workout that I would normally program for 3 days a week and I cut it in half so that each workout could be done in a short time each day. The total amount of work you do each day will be low, probably way lower than any of you are used to. But if you feel like this is something that can be beneficial for you then I encourage you to try it.

The biggest benefit of a workout like this the ability to build a habit around exercise. If you get used to going to the gym at the same time every day and just make it part of your daily routine, then it will be easier to make it a habit and make going to the gym something that you actually do. Although you're not doing that much each day, during the week you're still getting the same total volume that you would be getting if you were doing 3 longer workouts during the week. This mean that, not only will you not miss out on any strength gains, but you actually may get stronger because of it. And since the volume is so low each day, you don't need to worry about being able to recover from day today. Sure, the first week you may be a little sore, but you'll adjust and be able to make a good habit of it. In the long term, since you'll be able to make it to the gym so regularly, you may actually start to see some progress that you've been missing out on for years.

There are a few different types of people that this can be beneficial for so hopefully you can fit into one of these. A high frequency workout like this is great for people who have a hard time with sticking with the gym. Especially if they are also a person who loves to run their lives off of a routine. Having the same work hours each day and working off of the same schedule each day is going to be the perfect placement to add in a quick 20-30 minute workout each day. Get in, get out, get it done, and go back to work (or go eat). Something like a lunch break is a great place to add a quick workout like this. You can also add it in super quick before or after you go to work. On the other hand, if you're someone who has a different day to day schedule, or doesn't have trouble getting to the gym, you may not need to worry about a workout like this. Although it still can be beneficial if you want to try it.

So I'm going to cut it short there because I'll explain the rest tomorrow when I post the workout. But here's the trick, the only people who will receive the workout of my subscribers. So if you're already subscribed to this blog then great! You'll get a fresh new workout in your email tomorrow. But if you're not yet subscribed then make sure to do that! You can do it via the pop-up window on here. Also, when you subscribe, you'll get a copy of the nutrition plan I use with my clients as well as a couple sweet infographics about my favorite muscle building and fat loss tips (seriously they're super cool). So don't wait! Subscribe now and get a bunch of free stuff, plus a new workout tomorrow and more free stuff in the future.

See you tomorrow!

Facebook: Greg Herceg - Personal Trainer
Instagram: @Greg.the.Trainer
Email: gsherceg@gmail.com

Barbell Complexes For Fat Loss 40/84

Cardio is not fun. It's boring and it hurts. Not, like, hurts for a little bit then goes away, just hurts for a long time. I've posted in the past about how I like intervals and circuits for a different conditioning option, but here's other one you can add to the list.

Barbell Complexes are a great way to get a lot of work done in a small amount of time while still getting your heart rate up. You don't have to just go for a run or slug away on an elliptical to get your heart rate higher and get the cardiovascular benefits of cardio. Also, since you're still lifting weights, you don't have to worry nearly as much about the potential muscle loss from doing it. I want to keep this one quick so I will to post a couple of complexes that I have been using with my clients during their fat loss phases. Typically, if we're doing two sessions a week, one will be a complex and the other will be some kind of circuit. These, of course, will be paired with other lifting exercises and I'll often has client do other cardio and conditioning on their own.

Here's a really simple complex you can use to get started. Pick a bar weight and use the same bar for all exercises. Do 10 reps of each exercise, repeat for 5 rounds, and rest about a minute between rounds

1. RDL
2. Bent Over Row
3. Front Squat
4. Push Press

This is very similar to one that I like to start people with and it can also be done with dumbbells or kettlebells if that is more convenient for you.

As we progress through a fat loss phase (usually programmed for about 3 months at a time), I start to add exercises and change the parameters around a bit. This next one can be considered and intermediate complex. Only do 5 reps of each exercise and focus on adding weight to the bar each week. Repeat 6-8 rounds

1. RDL
2. Row
3. Hang Power Clean
4. Push Jerk
5. Back Squat

I don't often use Olympic lifts with my clients because they usually aren't worth the time it takes to teach people. But, I do like to add in a hang power clean because it's simply a transition from holding the bar in your hands to holding it in a front rack. This skill comes in handy whenever we need to do presses with a bar on the floor or go through a complex like this.

This last one I like a lot but I can't take credit for it. It's called the Cosgrove Complex and I first saw it on Testosterone Nation. It consists of 8 exericses and you start by doing 6 reps of each. Do 6 of all of the exercises the first round, then do 5, then 4, then 3 ect down to 1. It is prescribed with 90 seconds of rest but I like to do a 1:1 work to rest ratio, meaning you time how long the round took you then rest for that long between rounds. Here are the exercises,

1. Deadlift
2. RDL
3. Row
4. Power Clean
5. Front Squat
6. Push Press
7. Back Squat
8. Goodmorning

This 6-1 rep scheme is great mentally, because after the round of 5 you're already past half way done! I only make one real change to this and it's usually to omit the goodmorings at the end. Deadlifts, RDLs, and Cleans are enough posterior chain volume and people usually have a good pump in their lower back by the time the goodmornings come around.

So there you go, something new to try on your next conditioning day that will keep you much more involved and get you out of the gym much faster than the elliptical. Hopefully you guys are getting some good information from these posts and we're getting close to the halfway point on my daily posts! If you want to stay up to date on everything, get some free stuff including my Top Fat Loss and Top Muscle Building Tips,  nutrition plan, and access to my private Facebook group, fill out the pop up window on here to become a subscriber. Subscribers will also be the first people I go to for workout testing and free programs so don't wait! As always, if you have any questions at all, or feel like you need some help with this whole fitness thing, reach out to me and I'll do whatever I can to help!

See you tomorrow!

Facebook: Greg Herceg - Personal Trainer
Instagram: @Greg.the.Trainer
Email: gsherceg@gmail.com