1-2-3_lean

1 - 2 - 3

LEANprogram

By Jim Stoppani, PhD

1 - 2 - 31 - 2 - 3

programprogram

There are few men and women out there that do not wish to be leaner. All of us wish that we could possess impressive muscularity and a ripped set of abs. Yet unfortunately, many fi nd that more diffi cult to achieve than expected.

While diet and supplements are critical for getting lean and mean, and we’ve provided you with all you need on that end, training is is very critical compo-nent. When it comes to training the truth of the matter is that both weight training and cardio are critical to drop the most body fat in the shortest time possible. Yet in today’s fast paced world, who has time to even get to the gym, let alone time to lift AND do cardio?! Luckily there’s cardioacceleration!If you aren’t familiar with cardioaccel-eration, then I’ll bring you up to speed. It’s a form of cardio that is changing the way everyone thinks about training. It

combines weight training and weight lifting into one workout. Simply put you do a set of weights (for example the bench press) and then immediately fol-low it with one minute of cardio. Then you immediately go do another set of the weights and then hit another minute of cardio. You go in this manner for the whole workout and in an hour or less you have lifted AND done your cardio. But the effects are even better than do-ing your weight lifting and cardio alone… for both fat loss and muscle building. There are a number of reasons why car-dioacceleration is so effective for both fat loss and muscle building. One study from the University of California Santa Cruz found that when they had subjects do one minute of cardioacceleration between sets, the subjects experienced better muscle recovery. This is likely due to the greater blood fl ow to the muscles that you get because you keep your heart rate up throughout the entire workout. And as you may know, more blood fl ow

1 - 2 - 3

LEANprogram

to the muscles, delivers more nutrients an anabolic hormones, and also can increase the muscle pump, which can lead to greater muscle growth due to the stretch it places on the muscle cells. Fat loss is also enhanced with cardioac-celeration for a number of reasons. The most obvious reason is because you burn more calories by jumping back and forth between cardio and weights. Another reason is because you are only doing one minute of cardio at a clip, you can go more intensely than you would be able to do if you did 20-30 minutes of straight cardio. This higher intensity burns more calories during the workout and more calories, especially from body fat, after the workout is long over. This higher calorie and fat burn may go on for over 24 hours.

Many who are new to cardioaccelera-tion are confused over whether it’s bet-ter than HIIT (high-intensity interval training) or not. But what few realize is that cardioacceleration IS HIIT. Instead of the typical HIIT where you alternate between intervals of high-intensity exer-cise with intervals of rest or low-intensity exercise, with cardioacceleration you do intervals of high-intensity cardio-based exercise with intervals of a different type of high-intensity exercise, weight lifting. When I say cardio-based exercise, don’t assume that I’m talking about just the typical cardio exercise such as running on a treadmill or doing the stairstep-per. Sure you can do those exercises for one minute if you want to, but you don’t have to. There are so many exercises that you can do for that one minute of cadio from as simple as running in place to as complex at kettlebell snatches. The key is

doing exercises that use the lower body, such most cardio machines, or running in place, running stairs, or bench step ups; or exercises that use the lower and upper body together, such as jumping rope, jumping jacks, dumbbell power cleans, kettlebell clean and jerk, kettle-bell snatch, kettlebell swings, working on a heavy bag, shadow boxing, etc... The key is fi nding an exercise that you can do fairly intensely for one full minute, or at least working up to one full minute over time.

Weight For ItWhile cardioacceleration is one key to the success of this program, the actual weight program is also a critical compo-nent to the plan. The right weight-train-ing plan will not only enhance your fat loss, but will allow you to lose body fat while building strength and muscle. And this program is one that does just that.

After all, you don’t want to sacrifi ce your hard-earned strength and muscle.

The 1,2,3 Lean weight-training program utilizes the most tried and true technique around - Periodization. Periodization involves the systematic changing of the weight and rep ranges used. Research consistently shows that this technique is one of the best for increasing muscle stength and size.

This program uses periodization in a microcycle fashion. That means that each week the weight and rep ranges change. Traditional periodization changes up the weight and rep ranges every month or so. The problem with this us that when you are using very heavy weight for very few

reps for a month or longer, which helps to maximize muscle strength, you can lose muscle mass and endurance during . Then when you are training with lighter weight and higher reps for a month or longer to stimulate muscle growth, you can lose muscle strength. By sticking with a specifi c rep range for just a week, you get the benefi ts that training in that rep range provides, but you don’t lose the benefi ts you gain with the other rep ranges. This allows the program to op-timize gains in muscle strength, muscle size, muscle endurance, and fat loss simultaneously. And if you are familiar with my Bodybuilding.com Shortcut to Size program you know just how well it works!

This program uses two different forms of periodization simultaneously for maxi-mal results. One form is called linear periodization. This involves increasing the weight used while decreasing the rep range each week. The other form is called reverse linear periodization. As the name implies, this involves decreasing the weight and increasing the rep range each week. How can you follow two forms of periodization that contradict another simultaneously? Because each week you will be training each muscle group twice.

The program splits each muscle group into two different workouts each week. The fi rst half of the week (Monday, Tues-day, and Wednesday) you train mainly using multijoint exercises. For example, for chest you will only do presses using both barbell and dumbbells. The second half of the week (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday), when you train each muscle

group for the second time, you mainly use single joint (isolation exercises). For example, on chest you will do only fl ye exercises such as dumbbell fl yes and cable crossovers. The multijoint-focused workouts in the fi rst half of the week follow the linear periodized scheme and get heavy each week. However, the sin-gle-joint-focused workouts in the second half of the week follow a reverse linear periodization scheme. There are a few exceptions here for obvious reasons. For starters, there aren’t any real useful multijoint exercises for biceps. So the fi rst biceps workout each week you use barbell exercises, such as barbell curls, and barbell preacher curls, while the sec-ond half of the week you use dumbbell and cable biceps exercises. Another is-sue is that there aren’t many single-joint exercises for back, except the straight-arm pull down and similar movements like that. So the fi rst time you train back each week you use rowing exercises, such as the barbell bent-over row and seated cable row. Then the second time you train back that week you use only pulldown exercises, as well as the single-joint straight-arm pulldown. The other exceptions are abdominals and calves.

The weight workouts also enhance fat burning due to the exercise selection and rep ranges. The multijoint exercises increase the amount of calories you burn during the workout, beyond that stimulated by the cardioacceleration. The higher rep workouts also help to increase the number of calories burned during the workout. The heavy weight and low rep workouts on the other hand help to boost calorie and fat burn after the workout is over, which further en-

hances that provided by the cardioaccel-eration.

There are two three-week phases to this six-week program. In Phase 1 you start in week 1 with reps in 9-11 range for the multijoint-focused training in the fi rst half of the week. For the single-joint-focused work in the second half of the week you do reps in the 12-15 rep range. In week 2 for the multijoint-focused training in the fi rst half of the week, the weight in-creases to drop the rep range down to 6-8 reps per set. The second-half of the week when you are doing the single-joint-focused work, the weight is reduced to allow reps to increase to 16-20 per set. Then in the third and fi nal week of Phase 1, weight increases again to drop reps down to just 2-5 per set on the multijoint-focused workouts in the fi rst half of the week. And in the second half of the week during the single-joint-focused workouts, weight decreases again and reps go up to 21-30 per set.

In Phase 2 the cycle repeats again. So in the fi rst week, which is week 4 of the pro-gram, the weight is reduced to allow the reps to go back to 9-11 per set during the fi rst half of the week for the multijoint-fo-cused workouts. And the weight increases for the single-joint-focused work in the second half of the week to bring the reps back down to 12-15 per set. And each week it follows just as in Phase 1. How-ever, the major difference here in Phase 2 is that the majority of exercises are differ-ent except for a few of the staple exercis-es that are key for strength. Changing up the exercises allows you to target slightly different muscle fi bers in the muscles for the best overall gains in muscle size.

Week 1:Week 1: WorkoutsWorkoutsWorkout 1: Chest, Triceps, Abs (multijoint)Exercise Sets Reps

Bench Press 4 9-11Incline Dumbbell Press 3 9-11Decline Smith Machine Press

3 9-11

Dips 4 9-11Close-Grip Bench Press 4 9-11Cable Crunch 3 9-11Smith Machine Hip Thrust 3 9-11

Workout 2: Shoulders, Legs, Calves (multijoint)Exercise Sets Reps

Barbell Shoulder Press 4 9-11Alternating Dumbbell Shoulder Press (Standing)

3 9-11

Smith Machine One-Arm Upright Row

3 9-11

Squat 4 9-11Deadlift 3 9-11Walking Lunge 3 9-11Standing Calf Raise 3 9-11Seated Calf Raise 3 9-11

Workout 3: Back, Traps, Biceps (multijoint)Exercise Sets Reps

Barbell Bent Over Row 4 9-11Dumbbell Bent-Over Row 3 9-11Seated Cable Row 3 9-11Barbell Shrug 4 9-11Barbell Curl 3 9-11Barbell or EZ-Bar Preach-er Curl

3 9-11

Reverse-Grip Barbell Curl 3 9-11

Workout 4: Chest, Triceps, Abs (single joint)Exercise Sets Reps

Incline Dumbbell Flye 3 12-15Dumbbell Flye 3 12-15Cable Crossover 3 12-15Triceps Pressdown 3 12-15Overhead Dumbbell Exten-sion

3 12-15

Cable Lying Triceps Exten-sion

3 12-15

Crunch 3 12-15Standing Oblique Cable Crunch

3 12-15

Workout 5: Shoulders, Legs, CalvesExercise Sets Reps

Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3 12-15Barbell Front Raise 3 12-15Dumbbell Bent-Over Lateral Raise

3 12-15

Leg Extension 4 12-15Leg Curl 4 12-15Seated Calf Raise 3 12-15Donkey or Leg Press Calf Raise

3 12-15

Workout 6: Back, Traps, BicepsExercise Sets Reps

Lat Pulldown 3 12-15Reverse-Grip Pulldown 3 12-15Straight-Arm Pulldown 3 12-15Smith Machine Behind-the-Back Shrug

4 12-15

Incline Dumbbell Curl 3 12-15High Cable Curl 3 12-15Rope Cable Curl 3 12-15



3 6-8

Dips 4 6-8Close-Grip Bench Press 4 6-8Cable Crunch 3 7-8Smith Machine Hip Thrust

3 7-8



3 6-8


3 6-8



Barbell Bent Over Row 4 6-8Dumbbell Bent-Over Row 3 6-8Seated Cable Row 3 6-8Barbell Shrug 4 6-8Barbell Curl 3 6-8Barbell or EZ-Bar Preacher Curl

3 6-8

Reverse-Grip Barbell Curl 3 6-8


Incline Dumbbell Flye 3 16-20Dumbbell Flye 3 16-20Cable Crossover 3 16-20Triceps Pressdown 3 16-20Overhead Dumbbell Exten-sion

3 16-20

Cable Lying Triceps Extension 3 16-20Crunch 3 16-20Standing Oblique Cable Crunch

3 16-20


Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3 16-20Barbell Front Raise 3 16-20Dumbbell Bent-Over Lateral Raise

3 16-20


3 16-20



4 16-20




3 2-5

Dips 4 2-5Close-Grip Bench Press 4 2-5Cable Crunch 3 5-6Smith Machine Hip Thrust 3 5-6Workout 2: Shoulders, Legs, CalvesExercise Sets Reps


3 2-5


3 4-5



Barbell Bent Over Row 4 2-5Dumbbell Bent-Over Row

3 2-5

Seated Cable Row 3 2-5Barbell Shrug 4 2-5Barbell Curl 3 2-5Barbell or EZ-Bar Preacher Curl

3 4-5

Reverse-Grip Barbell Curl

3 4-5


Incline Dumbbell Flye 3 21-30Dumbbell Flye 3 21-30Cable Crossover 3 21-30Triceps Pressdown 3 21-30Overhead Dumbbell Extension 3 21-30Cable Lying Triceps Extension 3 21-30Crunch 3 21-30Standing Oblique Cable Crunch

3 21-30


Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3 21-30Barbell Front Raise 3 21-30Dumbbell Bent-Over Lat-eral Raise

3 21-30


3 21-30



4 21-30



Bench Press 4 9-11Incline Bench Press 3 9-11Decline Dumbbell Press 3 9-11Dips 4 9-11Close-Grip Bench Press 4 9-11Smith Machine Crunch 3 9-11Hanging Leg Raise 3 9-11

Workout 2: Shoulders, Legs, Calves (multijoint)

Exercise Sets Reps

Barbell Shoulder Press 4 9-11Dumbbell Shoulder Press (Seated)

3 9-11

Dumbbell Upright Row 3 9-11Squat 4 9-11Deadlift 3 9-11Leg Press 3 9-11Standing Calf Raise 3 9-11Seated Calf Raise 3 9-11


Barbell Bent Over Row 4 9-11Incline Dumbbell Row 3 9-11Seated Cable Row 3 9-11Barbell Shrug 4 9-11Barbell Curl 3 9-11Seated Barbell Curl 3 9-11Reverse-Grip Barbell or EZ-Bar Curl

3 9-11


Cable Crossover from Low Pulley

3 12-15

Cable Crossover 3 12-15Dumbbell Flye 3 12-15Overhead Cable Triceps Extension

3 12-15

Lying Triceps Extension 3 12-15Rope Triceps Pressdown 3 12-15Crossover Crunch 3 12-15Cable Woodchopper 3 12-15


Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3 12-15Cable Front Raise 3 12-15Lying Cable Rear Delt Flye 3 12-15Leg Extension 4 12-15Leg Curl 4 12-15Seated Calf Raise 3 12-15Donkey or Leg Press Calf Raise

3 12-15


Lat Pulldown 3 12-15Behind-the-Neck Pulldown 3 12-15Rope Straight-Arm Pulldown 3 12-15Dumbbell Shrug 4 12-15EZ-Bar Cable Curl 3 12-15Incline Dumbbell Curl 3 12-15Dumbbell Hammer Curl 3 12-15


Bench Press 4 6-8Incline Bench Press 3 6-8Decline Dumbbell Press 3 6-8Dips 4 6-8Close-Grip Bench Press 4 6-8Smith Machine Crunch 3 7-8Hanging Leg Raise* 3 7-8*use ankle weights or hold dumbbell between feet if needed



3 6-8




3 6-8


Cable Crossover from Low Pulley

3 16-20


3 16-20




3 16-20


Lat Pulldown 3 16-20Behind-the-Neck Pulldown 3 16-20Rope Straight-Arm Pulldown 3 16-20Dumbbell Shrug 4 16-20EZ-Bar Cable Curl 3 16-20Incline Dumbbell Curl 3 16-20Dumbbell Hammer Curl 3 16-20


Bench Press 4 2-5Incline Bench Press 3 2-5Decline Dumbbell Press 3 2-5Dips 4 2-5Close-Grip Bench Press 4 2-5Smith Machine Crunch 3 4-5Hanging Leg Raise* 3 4-5*use ankle weights or hold dumbbell between feet if needed



3 2-5




3 4-5


Cable Crossover from Low Pul-ley

3 21-30


3 21-30




3 21-30


Lat Pulldown 3 21-30Behind-the-Neck Pull-down

3 21-30

Rope Straight-Arm Pull-down

3 21-30

Dumbbell Shrug 4 21-30EZ-Bar Cable Curl 3 21-30Incline Dumbbell Curl 3 21-30Dumbbell Hammer Curl 3 21-30

The 1,2,3 Get Lean DietWhile six short weeks may seem like a limited time to drop enough body fat, it’s actually an ample amount of time… when you combine a smart and intense program along with a smart diet and supplement plan. And it doesn’t get much smarter than the 1,2,3 Lean diet program. After all, not only the workout, but also the diet and supplement regimen are based on real sci-ence and real world application. As a sci-entist I rely heavily on the latest research to design all my training and nutrition programs. However, just because some-thing has been discovered in the laborato-ry does not mean that it works well in the real world. So any discoveries that I have personally made in the lab or others have I put to the test on my own body and the bodies of thousands of people who follow my advice. Because I have been design-ing training and diet programs in publica-tions and websites that are read all over the world for nearly two decades, I have amassed data from millions of people on what works best. Few, if any other experts out there can back up their programs with those kinds of numbers. What I’m getting at here is the fact that I can guarantee you that this program will work well… if you follow it to the T. Whether you’re a man or woman, a teenager or an octogenarian, Caucasian or Asian, this is a fail proof plan, as long as you give it your 110%Most of you should be fairly familiar with the basics of nutrition, but I will break it all down to the simplest form for those who need it. Those of you who feel you have a solid understanding of nutrition should still be sure not to skip over this section as well. Not only will it be good review for

you to better understand this diet plan, but I guarantee that you will learn a lot. I will start by breaking down the nutri-tion plan into the three major macro-nutrients – protein, fat, and carbs. And yes, I have ordered them in order of importance as you will learn when you read about each one below. While calo-ries do matter when you are dieting, the real importance factors of a diet start with the proper amount of each of these macronutrients. Once they are all in line, then calories will fall right where they need to be for your body while follow-ing this program. There is no debating the fact that to lose body fat you have to burn more calories than you consume. But due to the intense 1,2,3 Lean train-ing program that you will be following you will be burning many calories during and after the workouts, and the rest of the entire day. So calories balance will never be an issue as long as you follow the diet fairly close.

Protein – We’ll start with protein since there is no way around the fact that for anyone interested in building muscle size and strength, protein is the most critical macronutrient there is. After all, all dietary protein whether it be from meats like beef, poultry, pork or fi sh, eggs, dairy such as cottage cheese, cheese, yogurt, or milk, protein powders or protein bars, or even non-animal forms such as soy, beans, nuts, grains, etc., are formed by single amino acids (such as leucine, glycine, tryptophan) linked together to form a long chain. That long chain is protein. When you consume that protein chain, your body digests it by breaking apart the bonds

that bind the amino acids together into single amino acids, or short protein chains (usually two amino acids bound together) known as peptides. These digested amino acids and peptides are then absorbed by the intestines where they eventually enter the blood stream to travel to your muscles, as well as other cells. In the muscle cells, these amino acids are reas-sembled to form the protein that makes up the muscle fi bers and allows them to grown bigger and stronger. This process is know an muscle protein synthesis and is how muscle grows. So if you want to grow muscle, you have to make sure to have ample amounts of protein.

How much protein is ample? Anyone who trains with weights regularly needs at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. And since on this program, you will be training very intensely six days per week then you need to up that pro-tein quota even more. After all, training breaks down muscle tissue and the amino acids from the protein you eat rebuild it.

If you consume enough protein you can rebuild it even bigger and stronger than it was before it was broken down. Research confi rms that athletes need close to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Many “experts” claim that there is no need to go beyond that amount to grow muscle. There is even research showing that when people consume more than this amount of protein they do not gain any more muscle. The problem with this research is that the subjects are NOT training as intensely as you will be training on the 1,2,3 Lean program. No study would ever put their subjects through the kind of intense training that I use in my program to get real results. That’s because the typical subject who joins a research study is someone looking to make a few dollars. If the training was too intense too many subjects would drop out of the study and they wouldn’t have a study. The other problem is that most researchers don’t even train themselves, so they don’t know how to

design an effective training program. So here is where the data that I have on hundreds of thousands to millions of people trumps any published re-search study. I recommend going up to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight to support muscle recov-ery and growth. And the data I have shows that it clearly works.

Another reason why I recommend such high protein intake is that when you are consuming little carbohy-drates in your diet, as you will be on the diet plan, you actually burn up some of the protein you eat for fuel. The body converts the amino acids into glucose (blood sugar) to fuel your brain and the rest of your ner-vous system. So you have to eat high-er amounts of protein to ensure that you have enough to support muscle recovery from the intense training and to support muscle growth and strength gains.

Many people are confused over the safety of eating a higher protein diet. Sadly the media and some “experts” have misinformed the public that protein is dangerous for the kidneys. The research that has suggested this is based on patients with kidney dis-ease or other kidney disorders. Yes, if you have kidney disease a higher pro-tein diet may be less than ideal for your body. But for the rest of us, our kidneys were designed for that very function and NO, they don’t become overburdened. Numerous research studies show that consuming high protein diets are not only safe, but very effective for fat loss as well.

Fat – Fat used to be considered the other “F” word as far as healthy and get lean diets go. Again, this was due to misinformed “ex-perts” perpetuating myths that they didn’t really understand. The main reason for the low-fat movement was due to the fact that fat is more calorie dense than protein and carbs. While one gram of protein and one gram of carb each provide only 4 calories, one gram of fat provides about 9 calories. So common sense would tell you that you should cut back on fat to keep calories in check and lose fat. Others also assumed that since fat cells are full of fat, eating fat would only cause you to store fat. Both of these reasonings are quite wrong.

Yes, eating too much fat can cause you to gain fat, but then eating too much of any-thing that adds up to way more calories than you burn can cause you to gain fat. When carbohydrate intake is low, the fat you consume from the diet is actually pref-erentially used as fuel and not stored as fat. Plus, certain fats in the diet are essential. This means that your body can not function properly without them. Namely, I am talking

about the omega-3 fats, such as those found in fi sh oil, as well as in fl axseeds and walnuts. Without getting in ample amounts of them, not only does the body not function properly, but you may limit muscle growth, fat loss, joint recov-ery, brain function and have a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.

Other healthy fats, such as monoun-saturated fats found in nuts, olives and olive oil, and avocadoes, are also im-portant to get ample amounts in. These fats are not readily stored as body fat, are used preferentially for fuel during exercise, and promote heart health. Plus, research shows that male athletes consuming higher amounts of monoun-saturated fats and saturated fats have higher testosterone levels. And testos-terone is critical for not just promoting muscle growth, but also fat loss. That’s right eating more saturated fat, such as from beef and dairy is also important for the male wanting to maximizing muscle growth and fat loss. That’s why I don’t suggest using much fat-free dairy. Low-fat, reduced fat or even whole-fat is always your best bet.

Carbs – While protein provides numer-ous essential amino acids that must be consumed from the diet, and fat has essential fats that must be consumed from the diet, there are no essential car-bohydrates. The liver makes adequate amounts of glucose from protein and fat. Since protein and fat are so impor-tant for muscle growth, when dieting the best way to cut calories and drop body

fat is to cut the carbs because they are non-essential. This is the main reason why cutting carbs works best for body-building diets. Of course, it also keeps in-sulin levels low, which is another reason why it works. But insulin is not all bad as it’s an anabolic hormone that promotes muscle growth. You just want to be sure to only spike at the right time of day. And that time of day is right after workouts. Other times of day when you are just sit-ting around, spiking insulin will increase fat storage and decrease fat burning.

Given this deal with insulin, most meals where you are consuming carbs will fo-cus on low-glycemic or slow-diegsting carbs, such as fruit, whole grains like whole-wheat bread and pasta and oat-meal, and sweet potatoes. After workouts on the other hand, you will want to go with high-glycemic or fast-digesting carbs to boost insulin and promote muscle recovery and growth after the workout. Some great sources of fast carbs include Wonka Pixy Stix, Wonka Sweettarts, Won-ka Bottle Caps, which have no fructose and are mainly pure dextrose (glucose), which is what blood sugar is. This means that these foods need little digestion and are absorbed almost immediately upon consuming them. White potatoes are an-other good fast carb that has no fructose. Other good forms of fast carbs include gummy bears or other sugary candies that are low in fat or white bread.

1, 2, 3 Get Lean Diet – This diet program has a pattern that makes it sim-ple to follow. Phase 1 lasts for one week. Phase 2 lasts for two weeks. And Phase

3 lasts for 3 weeks for a total of six weeks. Each phase simply drops carbs by 0.5 grams to keep you progressively dropping weight. There are two main reasons why you never want to drop

calories too low right off the start of a diet program. For one, you will lose muscle instead of maintaining or even building muscle. And two, you will stall your metabolism and force your body into survival mode. This means that your body’s metabolic rate will drop making it very diffi cult to continue losing body fat. The 1, 2, 3, Get Lean Diet avoids this by gradually lowering carbs and calories over time.

Phase 1 In Phase 1 or week 1, you will be con-suming about 17 calories per pound of body weight, or a little over 3000 calo-ries for a 180-pound man. This is close to the number of calories per pound that most people need to maintain their body weight. With the intense work-outs you will be doing, this amount of calories will put you just under your

calorie balance (how many calories you consume compared to how many you burn), so it will get you losing fat but still building muscle. Both protein and carbs will be around 1.5 grams per pound of body weight (270 grams for the 180 pounder), and fat comes in around 0.5 grams (or about 90 grams for the 180-pound person). On the one day of the week that you don’t train, these numbers will be slightly lower since you will be skipping the pre and postworkout meals. Feel free to have your preworkout shake as an extra snack on that rest day if you are really hungry.

Sample daily meal planThis is based on a 180-pound male, but will still work well for those between 160-200 pounds. If you weigh more or less than this range adjust your calories and macros accordingly to the relative numbers I’ve provided.

Wake Up Supplements (take immediately upon waking)200 mg Caffeine500-1000 mg Green Tea Extract500-2000 mg Yohimbe2 g Acetyl-L-Carnitine

Breakfast (30-60 min after wake-up supplements)1 scoop whey protein (start onshake while prepping)3 whole eggs3 egg whites1 cup cooked oatmeal 1 tbsp honey 1/2 large grapefruit2-3 g Fish oil2-3 g CLA

Late morning snack8 oz. Reduced fat Greek yogurt 1 Tbsp honey1/2 oz. walnuts (7 halves) crushed

Late Morning Supplements200 mg Caffeine500-1000 mg Green Tea Extract500-2000 mg Yohimbe2 g Acetyl-L-Carnitine

Lunch5 oz. can tuna2 slices whole wheat bread1 Tbsp light mayonnaise1/2 large grapefruit

Mid-day snack3 sticks light mozzarella string cheese1 medium apple1 oz mixed nuts

Preworkout Supplements (Take 30-60 minutes before workout)200 mg Caffeine500-1000 mg Green Tea Extract500-2000 mg Yohimbe2 g Acetyl-L-Carnitine

Workout Meal (Start sipping on this right before workout and sip throughout)½ Scoop Whey½ Scoop Casein1.5-5 g creatine1.5-2 g beta-alanine

Postworkout Meal(Have within 30 minutes after workout) 1 Scoop Whey1 Scoop Casein14 Small Wonka Pixy Stix or 1 Giant Pixy Stix5 g BCAA1.5-5 g Creatine1.5-2 g Beta-alanine2 g L-carnitine

Dinner8 oz top sirloin steak1 large sweet potato2 cups mixed green salad1 Tbsp olive oil1 Tbsp vinegar2-3 g Fish oil2-3 g CLA

Nighttime snack8oz low-fat cottage cheese1 cup Sliced Pineapple2-3 g Fish oil2-3 g CLA

Totals: 3000 calories, 285 g protein, 270 g carbs, 90 g fat

Phase 2In Phase 2 or weeks 2 and 3, you will be consuming about 14 calories per pound of body weight, or about 2500 calories for a 180-pound man. This number of calories will put you well under your calorie balance to really get you losing fat. Protein stays around 1.5 grams per pound of body weight (270 grams for the 180 pounder) to keep muscle mass on. Carbs drop down to an even 1 gram per pound, or 180 grams for the 180 pounder. Like protein, fat stays steady at around 0.5 grams (or about 90 grams for the 180-pound person). Like in Phase 1, on the one day of the week that you don’t train, these numbers will be slightly lower since you will be skipping the pre and postworkout meals. Feel free to have your preworkout shake as an extra snack on that rest day if you are really hungry.

Sample daily meal planThis is based on a 180-pound male, but will still work well for those between 160-200 pounds. If you weigh more or less than this range adjust your calo-ries and macros accordingly to the relative numbers I’ve provided. You will notice that the sample meals are very similar to Phase 1. This does not mean that you should be eating these exact foods and only these foods for all 8 weeks of the fi rst 2 phases of this program. The foods are similar so you can see what I removed and changed around to bring the carbs down with-out affecting protein and fat much. Refer to the food alternatives tables for foods that you can and should use to replace these foods so that the diet doesn’t become boring and lacking in nutrient diversity.

Wake Up Supplements (take immediately upon waking)200 mg Caffeine500-1000 mg Green Tea Extract500-2000 mg Yohimbe2 g Acetyl-L-Carnitine

Breakfast (30-60 min after wake-up supplements)1 scoop whey protein (start sipping on whey shake while prepping rest of breakfast)3 whole eggs 3 egg whites 1 cup cooked oatmeal 1 tbsp honey 1/2 large grapefruit2-3 g Fish oil2-3 g CLA

Late morning snack8 oz. Reduced fat Greek yogurt 1 tsp honey1/2 oz. walnuts (7 halves) crushed

Late Morning Supplements200 mg Caffeine500-1000 mg Green Tea Extract500-2000 mg Yohimbe2 g Acetyl-L-Carnitine

Lunch5 oz. can tuna2 cups mixed green salad1 Tbsp olive oil1 Tbsp vinegar1/2 large grapefruit

Mid-day snack3 sticks light mozzarella string cheese1 oz mixed nuts

Preworkout Supplements (Take 30-60 minutes before workout)200 mg Caffeine500-1000 mg Green Tea Extract500-2000 mg Yohimbe2 g Acetyl-L-Carnitine

Workout Meal (Start sipping on this right before work-out and sip throughout)½ Scoop Whey½ Scoop Casein1.5-5 g creatine1.5-2 g beta-alanine

Postworkout Meal (Have within 30 minutes after workout) 1 Scoop Whey1 Scoop Casein14 Small Wonka Pixy Stix or 1 Giant Pixy Stix5 g BCAA1.5-5 g Creatine1.5-2 g Beta-alanine2 g L-carnitine

Dinner8 oz top sirloin steak1 large sweet potato1 cup chopped broccoli2-3 g Fish oil2-3 g CLA

Nighttime snack1 cup low-fat cottage cheese2-3 g Fish oil2-3 g CLA


Phase 3In Phase 3 or weeks 4, 5 and 6, you will be consuming about 12 calories per pound of body weight, or just under 2200 calories for a 180-pound man. Dropping calories and carbs again will keep you burning up body fat.

Again, as in Phase 2, protein stays solid at around 1.5 grams per pound of body weight (270 grams for the 180 pounder) to keep muscle mass on. Carbs drop down to about 0.5 gram per pound, or 90 grams for the 180 pounder. Like protein, fat stays steady at around 0.5 grams (or about 90 grams for the 180-pound person). Unlike in Phases 1 and 2 where you will be eating fewer calories and carbs on the one day of the week that you don’t, the opposite holds true in Phase 3.

On the one rest day you get during these last three weeks, you will get to enjoy a high carb pig-out day. Since you are going so low in carbs six days of the week, you will need this one carb up day to prevent your metabolism from falling and putting you in the dreaded starvation mode. That’s when your me-tabolism slows down to spare energy reserves (i.e. body fat). The high carb day will help to kick-start your metabo-lism again, keeping you in a fat burn-ing mode for all three weeks. You’ll be shooting for about 17-18 calories per pound, the same 1.5 grams of protein per pound, at least 2 grams of carbs per pound of body weight, and fat should be just under 0.5 grams per pound.

A high-carb pig-out day does NOT mean that you’ll be eating pizza and drinking beer. Sure, if you can make your own low-fat pizza, and we’ll show you how, then yes, you can have pizza. And you know what? A beer or two won’t kill your progress on this plan. I’m serious! I am not recommending that you go out and drink beers. But if you have a beer or two (or wine or the hard stuff) on this one carb up day, it’s not going to derail your progress. What you should be shooting for on this carb up day is low-fat carb sources. High-glycemic or fast-digesting carbs are fi ne during the fi rst half of the day, as is fruit. But to prevent any of those carbs from being stored as body fat, focus on slow-digesting or low-glyce-mic carbs, avoiding fruit, later in the day.

Sample daily meal planThis is based on a 180-pound male, but will still work well for those between 160-200 pounds. If you weigh more or less than this range adjust your calories and macros accordingly to the relative num-bers I’ve provided. Again, you will notice that the sample meals for the workout days are very similar to Phases 1 and 2. This does not mean that you should be eating these exact foods and only these foods for all 12 weeks of this program. Remember, the foods are similar so that you can see what I removed and changed around to bring the carbs down without affecting protein and fat much. Refer to the food alternatives tables for foods that you can and should use to replace these foods so that the diet doesn’t become boring and lacking in nutrient diversity.

Workout DaysWake Up Supplements (take immediately on waking)200 mg Caffeine / 500-1000 mg Green Tea Extract

500-2000 mg Yohimbe / 2 g Acetyl-L-Carnitine

Breakfast (30-60 min after wake-up supplements)1 scoop whey protein (start on shake while prepping)

3 whole eggs / 3 egg whites / 2-3 g Fish oil / 2-3 g CLA

Late morning snack4 slices turkey deli meat

1 slice of low-fat Swiss cheese / ½ medium avocado

Late Morning Supplements200 mg Caffeine / 500-1000 mg Green Tea Extract


Lunch5 oz. can tuna / 2 cups mixed green salad

1 Tbsp olive oil / 1 Tbsp vinegar

Mid-day snack

3 sticks light mozzarella string cheese

1 oz mixed nuts

Preworkout Supplements (30-60 mins before workout)200 mg Caffeine / 500-1000 mg Green Tea Extract


Workout Meal (sipp right before and through workout)½ Scoop Whey / ½ Scoop Casein

1.5-5 g creatine / 1.5-2 g beta-alanine

Postworkout Meal (Have in 30 minutes after workout) 1 Scoop Whey / 1 Scoop Casein

14 Small Wonka Pixy Stix or 1 Giant Pixy Stix

5 g BCAA / 1.5-5 g Creatine

1.5-2 g Beta-alanine / 2 g L-carnitine

Dinner8 oz top sirloin steak / 1 cup chopped broccoli

2-3 g Fish oil / 2-3 g CLA

Nighttime snack8oz low-fat cottage cheese



Rest Day/High-Carb DayWake Up Supplements (take on waking)200 mg Caffeine

500-1000 mg Green Tea Extract


Breakfast (30-60 min after wake-up supplements)1 scoop whey protein (start on shake while prepping)

5 g BCAA / 1.5-5 g Creatine

1.5-2 g Beta-alanine / 2 g L-carnitine

3 whole eggs / 3 egg whites

3 four-inch pancakes / 2 Tbsp maple syrup


Late morning snack1 scoop whey protein (start on shake while prepping)

1/4 Boboli whole-wheat pizza crust

1/4 cup light mozzarella

1/4 cup marinara sauce

(spread sauce cheese on crust. Place in oven and bake for about 15 mis or until cheese is melted.)

Late Morning Supplements200 mg Caffeine / 500-1000 mg Green Tea Extract


Lunch6-inch Subway Turkey and ham on wheat

1 oz. bag Baked Lays / 1 large diet soda

Mid-day snack3 stick slight mozzarella string cheese

6 cups air-popped popcorn or 1 bag low-fat micro-wave popcorn

1/2 medium medium cantaloupe

Dinner8 oz chicken breast / 1 cup cooked brown rice

1 cup cooked black beans / 1 cup chopped broccoli


Nighttime snack1 cup Reduced fat Greek yogurt / 1 Tbsp honey

1/2 oz. walnuts (7 halves) crushed



1,2,3 Lean Supplement Plan

As good as any of my training and nutri-tion programs are, they are only even better when you take the right kind of supplements with them. These are the ones that I have found to be critical dur-ing this program to really help with fat loss, muscle growth, strength gains, and overall health.

Whey Protein – By now you should know pretty much everything there is to know about whey. But I’ll briefl y recap for those who don’t. One of the major benefi ts of whey protein is its fast rate of digestion. It gets to your muscles faster than any other protein you can ingest. It also is rich in BCAAs and even boosts blood fl ow to muscles. There are three times each day when you want to make sure you are drinking this fast protein, The fi rst is in the morning to provide your body amino acids to convert into energy so that your will stop stealing them from your muscles. You will also want to get this fast protein at the start

of and during workouts and within 30 minutes after the workout is over. You need it around workouts because it pro-vides an energy source and prevents muscle breakdown, as well as boost blood fl ow to muscles enchance recovery and growth.

Casein Protein – This protein is the opposite of whey as far as digestion goes. It is a very slow-digesting protein. Protein powders with micellar casein are some of the slowest digesting protein you can fi nd, taking up to 7 hours to digest. This means that casein provides a steady fl ow of aminos to your muscles. This makes it a good protein to take before bed, to stave off muscle breakdown while you fast during sleep. It’s also been found to better enhance muscle growth when taken around workouts than taking whey without added casein.

BCAAs – Although whey is quite rich in branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) you’ll still want to add another 5 grams of BCAAs to your postworkout supplement stack to further push muscle growth. The BCAAs include leucine, isoleucine and va-line and are absolutely critical for boost-ing muscle growth. Research shows that leucine is critical for turning on muscle protein synthesis, which leads to muscle growth. One study supporting how critical BCAAs are was done by colleagues and myself at the Weider Research Group and presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the International Society of Sports Nutri-tion. We discovered that subjects taking BCAAs around workouts gained about

twice as much muscle mass while fol-lowing an 8-week training program than those taking just whey or just Ga-torade around workouts.

Creatine – Without a doubt, this is one of the most important supple-ments to take on this plan. Creatine has been shown to boost muscle gains by as much as 10 pounds and strength by 10% in just a few weeks. Depending on the form you use, add 1.5-5 gram to your pre and postworkout shakes.

Beta-Alanine – You also will want to add the amino acid beta-alanine to your supplement plan since research has shown that when trained lifters add beta-alanine and creatine to their supplement regimen, they gain more muscle and lose more body fat than those taking just creatine. Beta-alanine will also increase muscle strength and endurance during workouts. Add 1.5-2 grams to your pre and postworkout shakes.

Caffeine – This potent central ner-vous system stimulant increases alert-ness and mental focus. But it also is a powerful fat burner. Since it’s a stimu-lant it increases the number of calories your body burns. Yet, the more impor-tant way that caffeine aids fat loss has to do with the fat cells themselves. Caf-feine attaches to receptors on the fat cells to blunt fat storage and increase fat release. Take about 200 mg in sup-plement form two to three times per

day between meals along green tea ex-tract, acetyl-L-carnitine, and yohimbe for the perfect synergistic fat-burning stack. One of those doses should be about one hour before workouts on training days.

Green Tea Extract – Green tea not only enhances fat loss, but it also offers a host of health and physique benefi ts, such as reduced risk of cancers, as well as enhanced joint and muscle recovery. It aids fat loss by boosting the number of calories you burn each day. The active ingredients in green tea responsible for the fat burning effect are catechins, par-ticularly one specifi c one called epigal-locatechin gallate (EGCG). This catechin inhibits an enzyme that normally breaks down norepinephrine, a neurotransmit-

ter and hormone that boosts metabolic rate and fat burning. Take 500-1000 mg of green tea extract standardized for EGCG two to three times per day be-tween meals.

Acetyl-L-Carnitine – This form of carnitine has an acetyl group attached to it. This increases carnitine’s uptake by the body, essentially making it a more effective form of this supplement. It also allows it to enter the brain, where it aids brain function, as well as boosts alert-ness and mood. In other areas of the body, such as muscle cells, carnitine aids fat loss by helping to transport fat into the mitochondria of cells. The mitochon-dria are the powerhouses of most cells and work to generate energy by burning up nutrients such as fat for fuel. Use this form between meals as it is taken up better than L-carnitine.

L-Carnitine or L-Carnitine L-Tartrate – Although you are already taking acetyle-L-carnitine throughout the day, I suggest you use one of these forms of carnitine with your postwork-out shake. This form of carnitine relies on insulin to be taken up by the muscles, which is perfect after workouts when you are spiking insulin with whey and fast carbs.

Yohimbe – The extract from the bark of this West African tree, Pausinystalia yohimbe, contains the active compounds yohimbine and rauwolscine (alpha-yo-himbine). It aids fat loss by specifi cally increasing the amount of fat that gets released from your fat cells, much like

caffeine does, but by a completely dif-ferent mechanism. Research shows that when taken before exercise, yohimbine may more than double the amount of fat released from fat cells. Also like caf-feine, this means that yohimbine can increase muscle endurance by allow-ing the body to burn more fat as a fuel source. In addition, yohimbine can in-crease blood fl ow to working muscles, which is another way that it can enhance muscle endurance. This is another good ingredient to have in your preworkout product, especially if fat loss is one of your major goals. Take about 500-2000 mg of yohimbe extract between meals two to three times per day. Your best bet is to use a yohimbe product standard-ized for yohimbine and try to get enough yomimbe with each dose to provide 5-20 mg of yohimbine.

Fish Oil – Fish oil is one of the healthi-est forms of fat that you can consume. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you should know that fi sh oil offers a plethora of health ben-efi ts, like reduced risk of heart disease, reduced risk of cancer and enhanced brain function, just to name a few. And of course, there are the physique and performance benefi ts, such as enhanced

muscle growth, better joint recovery and increased fat loss. All of these ben-efi ts are due to the healthy essential fats in fi sh oil known as omega-3 fatty acids. The two types of omega-3 fats in fi sh oil are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). In the body, these super fats work to produce benefi cial anti-infl ammatory hormones and turn on genes that increase the body’s fat-burning capabilities, while turning off genes that increase fat pro-duction and storage. Take 2-3 grams of fi sh oil with breakfast, dinner, and your last meal of the day.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) – This naturally occurring group of healthy omega-6 fats appears to work to rid body fat by boosting meta-bolic rate and inhibiting the enzyme lipoprotein lipase (LPL). LPL allows

fat cells to take up fat from the blood-stream and store it as body fat. By in-hibiting LPL, CLA encourages the body to burn fat instead of store it. Not only does this decrease body fat, but it also spares muscle mass, because if your body is burning body fat, it doesn’t need to break down muscle for fuel. In fact, numerous studies have reported that subjects taking CLA lose body fat while simultaneously gaining lean muscle mass and strength. And this research also suggests that a good portion of the body fat that is lost comes from the midsection. Research also suggests that CLA increases the amount of fat that is burned during sleep. This too will not only help you get leaner, but it will help to prevent the breakdown of muscle protein for fuel while you sleep, which can help you get bigger. Take 2-3 grams of CLA with breakfast, dinner, and your last meal of the day.

1-2-3_lean

Documents

Transcript of 1-2-3_lean