The M.E.T. - Maximum Efficiency Training System

Part 1 (Introduction)

How To Completely Transform
Your Body and Your Life!

What Is The M.E.T. Program?

If you ever wanted to know how to achieve better training results "in less time", you’ve definitely come to the right place. The following complete series of lessons is about one system, one strategy that eliminates all the guess work out of building the body you always wanted in record time. The system is called M.E.T. - Maximum Efficiency Training. The MET Training System is a tried and true recipe for success, one that you can customize according to your specific fitness level, regardless of your starting condition. It’s a program that allows you to progress up the ladder of physique development one level at a time. It will also help you improve from an overall health and wellness stand point while steering you away from the pitfalls of overtraining.

The fact is that this system can work for virtually everyone, male or female, young or old. If you think you need to spend hours in the gym each day in order to achieve the body you’re looking for, think again. There is a better way. A program that won’t leave you tired and unmotivated, one that will effectively map out and deliver measurable results and thus inspire you to keep going. One that will provide ongoing "visible" breakthroughs as you steadily advance while staying in exact alignment with your body’s own unique ability to adapt to varying levels of exercise stress - one of the keys to continued progress.

Unlike many programs, MET is flexibly designed to be structured around individual needs and starting condition. MET shows you how to train to the point of "your" optimum benefit without going overboard and dipping into the realm of diminishing returns. The MET System is used by health care professionals, leading sports centres, general fitness enthusiasts of all ages and walks of life as well as world class athletes and top ranked bodybuilders. With MET, the only thing you need to decide is how far you want to go. The MET System, in combination with your ability to recognize and assess your body’s physical cues (which you will learn about in this system), will take care of the rest. If you want to learn how to effectively reduce body fat, increase lean muscle mass, improve cardiovascular fitness, have greater energy, and time left over to actually enjoy the fruits of your labour, then the MET System is definitely for you! Maximum Efficiency Training cuts through the rhetoric, going directly to the core of what really matters in an effective, result-producing physique transformation program.

With the MET System no time is wasted with overlapping or unproductive exercises. Maximum Efficiency Training takes you right to the core of optimum results in the least amount of time!

Through this series of lessons, together with my upcoming MET Diet articles, you will receive the complete MET muscle-building strategy and fat-burning secrets. You will learn all the necessary techniques to achieve your physique goals. Best of all, the MET System allows you to progress, week by week, at your own pace. It is NOT a "one-size-fits-all" formula with a rigid number of sets for all to perform, week after week, irrespective of your individual starting condition. It’s a system that takes into account the fact that no two bodies are exactly alike and individual muscle adaptation ability and overall fitness levels vary.
When it comes to Maximum Efficiency Training, as Venice Beach Nutritional/Muscle Research has proven with it’s many clients – whether you are competitive bodybuilder or first time lifter there is an on ramp for virtually everyone regardless of starting condition.
Now, I’m not trying to say that MET is the absolute and only way to go. There are numerous fitness programs that if "customized" and followed correctly can provide benefits. However, I do promise that if you follow this system, you will be on course for consistent and ongoing measurable progress without having to live in the gym. Follow the Maximum Efficiency Training Program exactly as laid out and you will see results.
The goal of the MET System is to enable people to achieve maximum gains in the least amount of time. MET provides the very best tools and research, so people don’t have to recreate the wheel, wasting valuable time and energy.
All the things that are redundant, or just plain don’t work, won’t be found in this program. It leaves you with nothing but the very meat of what truly works and gets results. This proven program will show you how to get the most out of each set and exercise session in just 30 minutes a day!
So exactly what is MET and how does it work? Strap yourself in and prepare to be introduced to one of the most efficient, results-producing, all-encompassing, physique transformation programs in the world today!

SETTING THE SAIL FOR SUCCESS!

Where to Begin? How about head first!
When it comes to achieving success we’ve all heard the saying "those who fail to plan and set goals are planning to fail". This is never more true then when it comes to diet and exercise.
With that point in mind, I think it’s valuable to start by asking the question: Is building my body and improving my health important to me?
If you passionately answered "yes" to this question, you passed this part and can move directly on to part two next month, which is entitled “MET Blueprints for Success - Part 1: Planning and Tracking the Workout”.
If you’re a regular reader of this magazine it’s very likely that improving your body is something you eagerly work at on a regular basis, and you’re looking forward to finding new ways to take it up to the next level.
However, if you’re one of those few who often miss workouts, eat shabbily, or struggle to commit to any kind of exercise program, the following excerpt from the introduction to the MET Manual might help.

ACTION OR INACTION – SUCCESS OR FAILURE

If committing to an exercise program is something you struggle with, let’s look at some of the possible underlying reasons and what might help you unblock the log jam holding you back.
Whether you want a great relationship, a better career, a better family life, or you want to travel, get a better education, etc., all these things are directly affected by what we are talking about here - a healthy body and plenty of energy to get through each day.
Unfortunately, as a society, we are not giving diet, exercise and overall health the importance they deserve. We don’t value our health and fitness as we value things like relationships, money and career. For too many, this temple - our body - is the last thing we pay attention to. So many people over-stress it while feeding it the bare minimum of "health building" nutrition. They short change it in sleep, and then the next morning they do it all over again. Does this sound familiar?
Be aware that this thing called your body will only play that game for so long. Sooner or later, it will be the very thing that comes back and bites the hardest! I‘ve seen it happen too many times. The statistics for societies that don’t take exercise and diet seriously are stark. One in two people die of heart disease. Obesity is at an alarming high level. Two children at the school near me were rushed to hospital last year with heart attacks – these kids were at elementary school level!
Clearly, with a good diet and exercise program, much of this is avoidable. Is re-juggling a few priorities and adopting an easy to follow diet and exercise program that will pay huge dividends down the road therefore important to you?
With this program, not only can you dramatically improve your inner terrain by following the MET diet, you can reduce your risk of numerous diseases. What are some of the keys that can help make daily exercise a part of your lifestyle? A big one is having a strong enough reason to do it.
Maybe you want to have more energy (and longevity) for your wife and kids. Maybe it’s due to a quiet promise you made to yourself some time back to take your body to a new level, and now it’s time, once and for all, to honour that promise. The reasons themselves are not important – the hook they have on you to follow through is.

THE POWER OF "WHY"

Most people with a strong enough "why", or reason to exercise, and a clearly defined goal, rarely miss workouts. They keep their motivation and desired outcome clearly in their minds. They visualize the bigger picture daily. They also set their priorities accordingly, in so doing, keeping the inevitable daily distractions in their proper perspective.

We’ve all heard the saying that what you eat today is what you become tomorrow. Well the fact is that what you eat, what you think and whether you exercise regularly, has everything to do with what you will be recreating for yourself just around the corner.
What MET can provide is a dramatic way for people to positively impact their health, fitness and physique. Following the MET System also impacts energy down to cell level. Remember, exercise, thought and diet all direct effect energy and the function of every cell in your body. Research continues to reveal startling discoveries about the roles these factors play. When all your body systems operate at peak efficiency, and you are healthy and strong, then everything in this microcosm called the human body is in balance.
So, to recap, why should you set goals, think positively and adopt a strong personal reason for exercising regularly? It helps you break old habits and reinforce new, positive ones. It also helps build discipline and keeps you looking forward. If you don’t set out measurable goals, and your reason(s) for pursuing them, and review them often, it’s likely you will fall back into old patterns.
For example, the more you leave your exercise to the last minute or let it go if you are in a pinch, the more your mind will come up with excuses to do so, the more it will think in terms of why you can miss today’s workout and why everything and everybody else is more important.
Emphasizing the importance of positive thinking, Arnold Schwarzenegger put it this way in his book "Education Of A Modern Bodybuilder":
"Positive thinking nourishes the mind the way food nourishes the body. If you think you can, then you can. In the gym or anywhere else, positive expectations will allow you to grow and develop; negative ones will hold you back. To be a champion, you have to have the mind of a champion, and that mind is created step by step, just like the physique."

Can you commit yourself to get to the gym regularly? Anyone who has succeeded in transforming their physique has had to address this issue. See yourself down the line. Think about how great you could look and feel in your best clothes, or walking on the beach, just six months from now, if you commit just 30 minutes a day to this program. Heck, I’ve seen first-hand staggering changes in clients after just 3 months.
If you are one of those few sitting on the fence and not living up to your physical potential, start by putting aside 30 minutes a day.
The MET blueprints of what to do and how to follow the program, are coming up next. What’s the alternative? As the old saying goes, if you always do what you’ve always done you’ll always get what you’ve always got. Start now by taking yourself, your body and your future health seriously because if you don’t, it’s likely no-one else will.
Plan to set aside 30 minute a day and WORK THE PLAN as it unfolds in these lessons. If you haven’t done so already, take time today to write out and crystallize in your mind your short and longer term fitness or bodybuilding goals. Write out all the benefits that can come from adopting a 30 minutes a day training program.
While you’re at it, write out what will happen if you don’t commit to this or any exercise program further down the line. Identify in writing what will most likely happen if you continue skipping workouts and eat shabbily for the next three years, five years, ten years or longer.
The fact is we are all moving in one of two directions - towards optimal health and "ease" or towards stagnation and "dis-ease". Our daily choices and the power behind our actions are the driving forces moving the pendulum. GET READY TO ADOPT THE MET AND THINK BIG!

“Things do not change; we change” – Henery David Thoreau

M.E.T. FAST TRACK TIPS -
Excess Iron and Free Radical Production
A MUST KNOW FOR ALL EXERCISE ENTHUSIASTS!!
- NEW RESEARCH -
GETTING IT RIGHT WITH IRON
"THE FREE RADICAL STORY"

Studies in humans and animals show that over-training causes dramatic increases in free radical damage after training and may prolong recuperation! For weight lifters especially, free radicals trigger inflammation, increased fatigue, muscle fibre damage and possible immune system suppression. What does this have to do with iron, and how can we keep free radicals from negatively hampering our progress? Read On.
If you are following a sound muscle building diet that includes lots of good red meat and fresh vegetables, then rejoice! The good news is that not only does red meat give us an abundance of high-quality protein and a good shot of all the B- vitamins, it also provides us with a very rich supply of iron - perhaps the very best source of iron on the planet! In addition, the iron in red meat is always bound to protein, which helps it to be absorbed more rapidly and efficiently. Other things bodybuilders eat a lot of, like spinach and green leafy vegetables, also contain iron.

If you are consuming red meats and fresh vegetables, should you be going out and looking to further supplement your diet? If we were talking about most vitamins and minerals, a great number of researchers would say yes. However, when talking about iron, if you're following a typical bodybuilding or muscle building diet with lots of red meats and vegetables, then for men at least, the answer is a resounding NO! The reason is that on this kind of a diet you are getting iron from numerous food sources several times throughout the day, and adding more would be redundant and possibly counter-productive. To understand why, let's take a look at excess iron intake and its relationship to increased free radical production.
Excess Iron and Free-Radical Damage

Researchers have found that people who consume a dietary supplement that includes iron in its formula could actually be increasing their free radical production. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has also reported that too much iron can have a negative impact on your health. In the AJCN study, the test subjects included 18 healthy men and women who ate their regular diet plus 19mg of elemental iron daily for two weeks. Investigators collected faecal samples and food records, which were sent to the lab and analysed for iron content and potential free radical production. The results showed that faecal iron increased substantially during the period of supplementation but returned to normal levels two weeks after supplementation stopped. What's more important to note was that test subjects' production of free radicals shot up by 40% from the added iron in the supplement! With epidemiological data telling us that increased dietary iron intake is linked to an increased risk of colon cancer, the authors recommended further investigation to test the relationship of increased iron intake to cancer risk. The study supports what other researchers have been saying all along. When supplementing, men in particular would be wise to use a dietary vitamin-mineral supplement without added iron. As a general guideline, men should be taking around 10mg total of iron per day and women 15mg.

AVOIDING FREE RADICAL DAMAGE

Free radicals are created in high levels in our body whenever trauma or inflammation occurs. For example, when we sit out in the sun, the sunlight immediately starts to trigger the formation of free radicals in our skin. This then triggers damage to our skin and the tissue underneath it. Free radicals are mostly derived from oxygen molecules, which tend to lose an electron, making them unstable. Free radicals on a cell level are responsible for severe damage and are at the root of a wide range of acute and chronic diseases including cancer, diabetes and arteriosclerosis. Compared to people who don't over-train, people who over-train experience a far greater rise in free radicals and a lowering of the antioxidant systems to fight them off. When you add increased levels of iron into the mix, some people experience an even higher level of free radicals. This in turn leads to increased inflammation and damage to muscle fibres, as well as increased fatigue, immune system suppression, breakdown of muscle tissue and possibly even greater problems over the long term. How can you effectively safeguard yourself from this? The answer is simple, but three-fold:

AVOID OVER-TRAINING

1) As outlined earlier, over-training triggers a dramatic rise in free radicals and if left unchecked can lead to increased tissue inflammation, immune system suppression, fatigue, and the actual breakdown of muscle tissue. Always be on the lookout for signs of over-training, and adjust your workouts accordingly. The MET Program, which I recommend highly, is great in this regard because it shows people how to stay within their individual recuperative abilities. It keeps athletes training safely inside their target level or zone, and only after their body has adapted to a certain level of stress do they take it up to the next level. This keeps athletes healthy, strong and on the path of progress. Athletes who follow the MET Program stay energized for their training and rarely if ever fall into the over-training syndrome. Over-training will also reduce your recovery abilities, increase your body's cortisol secretion and substantially slow down your overall progress. Physiological and psychological signs of over-training include: abnormal or excessive pain in the muscles and joints, slower recovery time, reduced training capability or performance, increased heart rate while at rest, as well as increased irritability and decreased motivation to train - just to mention a few signs.

2) When following a good muscle building diet with red meat and lots of green leafy vegetables, don't take additional iron unless recommended by a doctor. Both athletes and non-athletes experience greater free radical damage from consumption of excess iron, which is obviously not good. As leading scientist Dr. Imre Nagy points out, the damage is heaviest on the outside of the cells, in the plasma membrane, because it's such a molecularly dense area. When the cell membranes lose their fluidity, our receptor sites for hormones and neurotransmitters start to malfunction, causing our cells to age. Again, unless recommended by your doctor, you might do well (especially if you're a man) to avoid extra iron.

3) Supplement daily with a good absorption-enhanced vitamin and mineral supplement that includes antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, Green Tea Extract, and Beta-Carotene. Antioxidants neutralize and are powerful protectors against free radicals.

FIGHTING FREE RADICALS

Nature has created for us some great all-natural, life-enhancing micronutrients called antioxidants to fight these damaging free radicals. Taken regularly in a bio-absorbable form, these antioxidants can scoop up free radicals in their path before they damage the cells. To accomplish this, I use and strongly recommend to my clients a MEGA free radical fighting formula called VMA, from Venice Beach Nutritional / Muscle Research. VMA contains vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, along with Absorbal and powerful bio-active absorption-enhancing phospholipids to ensure the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in the formula get to where protection is needed. It also contains a number of other key nutrients that support muscle growth, fat loss and recovery - without the added iron! I believe VMA should be used year-round by all hard-training individuals to help boost immune function and neutralize free radicals.

Antioxidants in VMA are the cells' defence against oxidants (free radicals) and many other health risks. Vitamin E, for example, by virtue of its antioxidant powers, can lower your risk of heart disease by preventing oxidation of cholesterol in your arteries (NEJM, 1993;323:1444-49). Consuming enough vitamin E in your diet to provide heart protection, however, is almost impossible. Peanut oil and some other foods contain Vitamin E, but you would have to drink several gallons of oil or consume massive amounts of other foods to get enough to significantly help your arteries. Just one serving of VMA will give you a full 222% of the Daily Values for Vitamin E in one of the most absorbable forms.

In addition to Vitamin E, VMA contains proper levels of many other important vitamins and antioxidants, such as Vitamin A, Green Tea Extract, Beta-Carotene and Vitamin C. Researchers believe that in addition to helping your body fight off free radicals, these valuable micronutrients can lower your risk of cancer and help protect against many other chronic diseases.

As an example, a researcher at the University of Buffalo revealed that people who had higher levels of Vitamin C in their blood experienced fewer signs of oxidative stress (Meeting Society for Epidemiological Research. 6/13/97). VMA from Venice Beach contains a whopping 600mg of absorption-enhanced Vitamin C in a single serving. This is the kind of dosage hard-training athletes need in order to support muscle recovery and ensure real protection against free radicals. I’ve tried a lot of different formulas over the years but this is by far the best I’ve come across for bodybuilders.

Remember: 1) long, drawn-out workouts cause a dramatic rise in free radicals; 2) the influx of free radicals will lead to attacks on the cell plasma membranes; 3) Your cell plasma membranes will then create pro-inflammatory chemicals; 4) The pro-inflammatory chemicals will in turn produce even more free radicals. To help combat this vicious cycle, people who exercise are well served to take a second-generation absorption-enhanced supplement like VMA. VMA is the only mega vitamin, mineral and antioxidant supplement of its kind that actually increases the uptake of the vitamins and antioxidants in its formula by up to 300% over first-generation supplements - without the iron! For more information on VMA call 0148 9578 822