CHAPTER
3 NEED-TO-KNOW BODY BASICS

WITH THE STRATEGIC USE OF PHYSICAL AND DIETARY MOVES that will enhance your natural body type, you can become healthier, leaner, fitter, stronger, slimmer, more energized, and more self-assured than ever before. The right training approach and the right calories really do make all the difference. While the goal with the plans that follow is to maximize your health and master your strength, weight loss (or body fat loss) is usually a positive side effect. This means you really can turn the body you have into the body you want, losing inches, torching body fat, and developing a stronger, more sculpted look in the process.

To get to those goals, you need to work with your natural-born body type and do the optimal combination of cardio and strength-training exercises while consuming the right proportion of macronutrients for your physique. You’ll learn how to do that in the chapters that follow. But before we get to the specific body-type plans, there are some basic body principles you should be familiar with because they apply to every body. No exceptions.

Let’s start with metabolism, which is a series of biochemical reactions in your body that allows you to convert the calories from the food you eat into energy that your body can use. Everyone has a different resting or basal metabolic rate—the number of calories your body burns just to sustain basic functions like your heartbeat and breathing—and it’s determined by several factors, including your gender (spoiler alert: men have the advantage), age (younger people have speedier metabolisms), your body composition (muscle wins over fat), and genetic factors. Even if some of these factors are working against you, by using the following plans you can optimize your metabolism by adjusting your diet, workout regimen, and lifestyle habits.

METABOLISM MATH

To get a pulse on where you are now, metabolically speaking, you can use the following formulas to assess approximately how many calories you burn each day. Note: you’ll need to have handy your weight in kilograms (divide your weight in pounds by 2.2) and your height in centimeters (multiply your height in inches by 2.54), plus, your age in years.

IF YOU’RE A MAN: Multiply your body weight (in kg) times 10; next, multiply your height (in cm) by 6.25; add these two figures together and put it aside (consider this figure A). Now, multiply your age by 5 (consider this figure B). Subtract figure B from figure A, then add 5 to that sum to get your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the number of calories your body burns just to exist and fulfill the basic functions that keep you alive.

IF YOU’RE A WOMAN: Multiply your body weight (in kg) times 10; next, multiply your height (in cm) by 6.25; add these two figures together and put it aside (consider this sum figure A). Now, multiply your age by 5 (consider this figure B). Subtract figure B from figure A, then subtract 161 from that sum to get your basal metabolic rate (BMR).

Men	BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age in years) + 5
Women	BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age in years) − 161

Now, it’s time to fine-tune that calculation, based on your level of physical activity. This will give you your body’s total daily energy expenditure (TDEE, for short), the number of calories you burn in a day.

If you are sedentary (meaning, you get little to no exercise), multiply your BMR by 1.2.

If you are lightly active (meaning, you do light exercise or play sports for an hour a day, one to three times per week), multiply your BMR by 1.375.

If you are moderately active (you exercise at a moderate intensity or play sports three to five days per week), multiply your BMR by 1.55.

If you are very active (meaning, you go hard then go home for at least an hour at a time, six or seven days per week), multiply your BMR by 1.725.

If you are extra active (if you do intense training every day for a competitive event, for example, or have a physically demanding job), multiply your BMR by 1.9.

To make these figures less abstract, consider a guy named Jesse, 38, who is 5’10” and weighs 190 pounds and is lightly active (say, he plays tennis two or three times per week). His BMR = (10 x 86.4) + (6.25 x 177.8) − (5 x 38) + 5, or 864 + 1,111.25 − 190 + 5 = 1,790.25. His TDEE is 1,790 x 1.375 or 2,461. That’s how many calories he typically burns in a day.

If Jesse were a woman with the same height, weight, age, and physical activity level, her BMR would equal 1,624.25 and her TDEE would be 2,233 calories.

THERE ARE SEVERAL VARIABLES THAT CAN AFFECT YOUR METABOLIC RATE, including your body composition (how much lean muscle mass you have, compared to body fat), your conditioning level, and genetic factors. Pound for pound, muscle is more dense than body fat—and it requires more calories to maintain it. In fact, each pound of muscle you have uses 6 to 8 calories a day just to sustain itself, whereas every pound of fat requires only 2 calories daily. This means that if you have a higher percentage of body fat, you’ll burn fewer calories at rest than a friend who is the same height, weight, and gender but has a higher percentage of muscle mass. The good news is, this also means that if you shed body fat and add lean muscle mass to your body, you’ll naturally increase your body’s resting metabolic rate 24/7.

An important note: I don’t usually ask my clients (and I won’t be asking you) to count calories. Doing so is tedious and people can easily become obsessed. That’s not what we want here. If you stick with the macronutrient ranges and food serving sizes that are recommended in each plan, the calories will basically take care of themselves. But sometimes people like to know how many calories their bodies expend on a daily basis, which is why I’ve provided this information here. File it away under “interesting 411” for now. If you need to tweak your calorie intake later—because you find that you’re losing or gaining weight too fast on the plan—then you can revisit the calorie issue and fine-tune your approach. (In these situations a good first step is to adjust your food intake up or down by 10 to 20 percent, depending on whether you’re dropping or adding pounds too fast.)

NUTRITION KNOW-HOW

What you eat provides the energy for almost everything your body does, as well as fuel for your workouts and the building blocks for your body’s post-exercise recovery. Using nutritious foods as sources of fuel, energy, and vitality will help you build lean, sculpted muscle and a healthy, resilient physique. Of course, your diet also affects whether you will gain weight, lose weight, or maintain your current weight. The adage that “calories in versus calories out” is often debated or disputed, but it really does matter in the weight-management equation. To lose weight, you need to consume fewer calories than you burn through everyday activities and your workouts. Create a deficit of 3,500 calories per week, and you can theoretically lose a pound a week.

But it’s also more complicated than that. You’ve undoubtedly heard some people say “a calorie is a calorie.” Well, it’s not entirely true unless you’re doing a laboratory experiment. In that case, 100 calories from a cookie will actually release the same amount of energy as 100 calories’ worth of avocado. But that’s not how different sources of calories work inside your body. Depending on what’s in them, different foods have variable effects on your hunger, satiety, metabolism, digestion, energy, blood sugar levels, and fat storage.

So let’s shift gears and talk a little about calories and where they come from. There are three classes of macronutrients—carbohydrates, protein, and fats—that together contribute to a healthy diet. While 1 gram of carbohydrates and 1 gram of protein each contains 4 calories, a gram of fat contains 9 calories—more than twice as many. But good fats do have a place in a healthy diet.

Let’s take a closer look at these key players.

CARBOHYDRATES often get a bad rap in our culture but they are vital to life, contributing much of the energy you need for exercise and other physical activities as well as the functioning of your organs. But not all carbs are equal, so the source really does matter. Simple carbs (found in table sugar, sugary packaged foods, and refined starches) don’t offer much in the way of nutrition and they lead to quick spikes (followed by crashes) in blood sugar levels; they also promote sneaky, internal inflammation that can harm your health. That’s why added sugars and refined starches should be put on the no-fly list (not in your mouth).

By contrast, complex carbohydrates (found in vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds) provide steadier, longer-lasting energy and greater nutritional value. Complex carbs are also high in fiber, which slows digestion, takes up a fair amount of space in the stomach, enhances feelings of fullness, and lowers blood sugar and insulin levels. Some body types are more efficient than others are at breaking down carbs (hello, ectomorphs!), so the proportion of carbs in the diet that’s right for you depends partly on your body type, as you’ll see.

PROTEIN provides the greatest and longest-lasting feeling of fullness, partly because it takes our bodies longer to digest protein than it does other macronutrients. Whenever you eat something, you gain a metabolic boost from digesting, processing, and storing food, a process that causes your body to generate heat, which helps it burn calories faster (this is called the thermic effect of eating). An added perk: eating protein means you end up burning calories for longer during the digestive process by stoking the metabolic furnace. With protein, too, quality counts so it’s best to opt for fish and seafood, lean poultry or meats, eggs, nuts, and seeds. Getting enough protein in your diet is critical for building and maintaining muscle mass, repairing various tissues in the body, and providing a secondary source of energy for your body (carbohydrates are the main source).

FAT is often viewed as a dietary villain, but the human body needs healthy dietary fats to fulfill a variety of functions, including making hormones and cell membranes, aiding digestion and brain function, and promoting the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Sorry to be repetitive but… all dietary fat isn’t created equal. Healthy fats include monounsaturated fats (in olive and peanut oils, most nuts and seeds, and avocado) and polyunsaturated fats (from omega-3 fatty acids and vegetable oils like sunflower and safflower oils). By contrast, consuming saturated fats (in fatty meats and full-fat dairy products) or trans fats (in many baked goods, snack foods, and fried foods—the word “hydrogenated” is a tip-off) increases hidden inflammation throughout the body. So, avoid these as much as possible. (When it comes to saturated fats, make an exception for coconut oil, which contains medium-chain triglycerides that can be used as energy like carbohydrates; plus, it’s been shown to reduce inflammation and help with overall hormone balance.)

Though it’s not a macronutrient, water is an essential part of a healthy diet. For one thing, water is the most abundant substance in the body, accounting for about 60 percent of an adult’s body weight, and since our bodies have no way to store water, we need to constantly replenish the fluids we lose through sweating, breathing, and performing other bodily functions. According to the latest recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, an adequate daily fluid intake is about 15½ cups for men and 11½ cups for women (keep in mind that this includes fluids you get from foods, too). On each of the body-type plans, I recommend having 80 percent of your fluid intake come from water or seltzer and the rest can be from black coffee, green tea, or another type of tea. If you get bored with plain H₂O, you can add lemon wedges or cucumber slices. And if you can’t stand black coffee, it’s okay to add a little almond, cashew, or coconut milk (but not more than two or three times per day). Skip the juices, sodas, and alcohol. And it’s best if you can steer clear of diet soda because there’s some evidence that the artificial sweeteners they contain (especially sucralose) can actually ramp up your appetite. That’s not what you want.

IN THE BODY-TYPE plans that follow, you’ll see that I recommend protein shakes and protein bars. Don’t be fooled: while there are lots of different brands on the market, some of them are higher in protein than others. The ones that are higher in protein are the ones you want.

The protein powders I really like for protein shakes include Vega, which is a plant-based brand, and those with 100 percent pure whey protein isolate such as Isopure and Dymatize. But if you have a favorite that contains 20 to 25 grams of high-quality protein, less than 5 grams of carbs, and less than 2 grams of fats, it’s fine to go with that. For ready-to-drink shakes you can grab on the go, some good plant-based ones include Orgain, Vega, and Evolve; for whey-based shakes, consider Muscle Milk, Lean Body, Myoplex, or Syntha-6.

For protein bars, I recommend No Cow, Good2Go (G2G), and thinkThin, followed by One Bar and Quest Bar, and then KIND Protein Bars. All of these bars are best used as snacks before or after a workout—and it’s ideal if you can find bars that have 18 grams or more of protein (the KIND Protein Bars are a bit lower than the others with 12 grams of protein but also lower in carbs with 17 grams per bar).

EXERCISE BASICS

Regardless of our inherent body types, we all have muscles that are composed of two different types of fibers: Slow-twitch fibers have small motor neurons, produce low tension on the muscle, and are fatigue-resistant (they’re great for endurance activities). By contrast, fast-twitch muscles are responsible for strength and power: the type 2A fibers have medium-sized motor neurons, produce high tension, and are somewhat resistant to fatigue (they’re responsible for strength output); type 2B fibers, which have large motor neurons and produce very high tension, generate power but fatigue quickly. Our body types can predispose us to have certain muscle fibers that are more dominant than others, so the ratios of these different fiber types can vary from one person to another. Fortunately, the right workouts and training protocol can enhance particular muscle fibers, as you’ll see.

When it comes to movement, every little bit counts and the goal is to add more to your life. You’ll find specific body-type workout regimens in the chapters that follow, but there are a few principles that are common to all.

For cardiovascular exercise—walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, stair-climbing, skating, using cardio machines, or playing movement-related sports (such as soccer or basketball)—intensity is a key concept. When I refer to moderate intensity (such as brisk walking), I mean an intensity that increases your heart rate to 55 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate (MHR). To figure out what that is, use this formula: subtract your age from 220 to get your MHR, then multiply your MHR by .55 (55 percent) to get the lower end of this range and multiply your MHR by .70 (70 percent) to get the upper end. That’s where you want your heart rate while you’re exercising at a moderate intensity. Granted, using this approach requires checking your heart rate regularly, which can be a hassle. If you want to keep it simple, you can use the talk test: you should be able to talk while walking briskly (or cycling or whatever, at a moderate intensity)—but you shouldn’t be able to sing. If you can belt out a tune, you need to step up your pace, resistance, or another parameter of intensity.

When it comes to weight training, it’s important to choose a weight that allows you to do the desired number of repetitions (reps) with some difficulty but would allow you to do a few more reps on the first set if I really pushed you. Over time, your goal is to add weight and increase resistance, but proper form is essential at every phase. Be patient because building volume and progression is a process that takes time. Many of the programs include compound movements (exercises that use multiple joints and muscles, such as deadlifts and squats with dumbbells) with a focus on building strength and coordination throughout the entire frame, with additional isolation movements (such as biceps curls) to create definition, shape, and symmetry. With each program, you’ll want to rest for 60 to 90 seconds between sets, and you’ll want to have one rest day between each of your lifting days to allow your muscles sufficient time to recover.

With both cardio workouts and strength training, the overload, adaptation, and progression principles of exercise come into play. When your body is challenged with a given exercise workload (such as lifting a certain amount of weight or jogging at a particular pace), it eventually adapts to the challenge (usually after 8 to 12 weeks). That’s a great thing because it means you’ve made progress and gotten stronger or faster or gained greater endurance, but it also means you’re not reaping as many benefits as you previously did from the challenge. At that point, you’ll need to create a progression of the load (either the amount of weight or the number of reps, or the pace or intensity of your cardio workout) so you can continue to make progress; otherwise, your fitness benefits can stall and you can grow bored or frustrated. When it’s time to increase the challenge, the rule of thumb is to do it by a maximum of 10 to 20 percent per week, whether that means increasing your pace or the duration of your run by that much or adding that much weight or number of reps to your strength-training routine.

The workouts in this book are designed as if you were my client in the gym. They use weights. They use machines. And they rely on body weight. My hope is that you will use this approach at a gym where you’ll have more equipment at your disposal and can get the best results. Don’t be intimidated; I’ll guide you through the workouts and spell out the details so they’re crystal clear. You can progress faster and add resistance much more easily when you have access to the equipment of a full gym. So find a club, gym, or other workout venue where you feel safe and comfortable, and go to it! After a few weeks, the workouts will feel natural and you’ll feel in your element; your comfort zone will have broadened. But doing something is always better than nothing—so in a pinch you can modify the workouts to your needs and the equipment you have available at home and do them there.

HIGH-INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING (HIIT) is a hot concept in the fitness world—and for good reason: you can get a greater bang for your buck with these workouts, especially since they often last just 15 minutes. By alternating short bouts of vigorous exercise with brief periods of active recovery (as in exercising at a slower pace), anaerobic HIIT allows you to torch more calories and push your heart rate more than you could with aerobic steady-state exercise, thus boosting your overall aerobic capacity faster.

As an added perk, you’ll crank up the after-burn effect (a.k.a. excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) even more; these terms refer to an increase in the rate at which you burn calories after the workout to help your body recover, cool down, and deal with the hormonal changes the workout produced. Simply put, there’s an exponential relationship between exercise intensity and the magnitude of the after-burn effect. So, while any form of aerobic exercise will raise your metabolic rate during the workout and afterwards for a while, HIIT increases these benefits even more. HIIT also confers specific health benefits, including better blood sugar regulation and blood vessel (a.k.a. endothelial) function.

Here’s an example of how I introduce HIIT cardio to my clients’ programs: after weight training, HIIT cardio is done either on a treadmill or, when the option is available, outside on a level grass surface. This workout can be used for every body type program.

Do a 30-second sprint at 60 percent of your maximum effort