Level 4 Leanness
Strategic peaking and a great article from T-Nation
Lou Schuler, my editor, loves to cut costs. He says it’s for my own good, but I'm beginning to have second thoughts.
I’m preparing to fly to Pennsylvania in two weeks and the guy books me a room at his mom’s house. He promises I’ll get hot chocolate and cookies and bedtime stories, but I’m not so sure.
I don’t even know how to get to his mom’s house. The directions he gave me seem wholly inaccurate and fuzzy.
“First you walk out of the airport, then you look for a guy in a yellow poncho, then you Oprah walk (half run, half walk) due East for 14 minutes in the direction of the biggest cloud in the sky. That should take you to her doorstep.â€
OK, I’m kidding. I have a very nice room at the Wingate Inn reserved and Lou’s carting me around town in what I hope will be a stretch Hummer limo. Or at least a Toyota Corolla.
But I am doing my part to help lower our overhead costs: I’m doing the internal photos for my book.
Flip through any copy of Men’s Fitness and take a look at the guys who’re demonstrating the exercises for the workout programs.
That’s what I’m going to do. About 80 different photos total.
There was talk of hiring a model to do the shoot, but everyone thinks it’d be “more real†if I was the one posing and straining with heavy weight. (Note to self: go back and look at exercise programming to see if any are way too hard and will make you look stupid.)
So, it’s time to “peak.â€
Peaking implies that you’re already in shape but need to “tighten up†and add the finishing touches to your physique. I’ve had clients peak for high-school reunions, photo shoots, figure contests, and even a first date. It's also very popular for movie stars to "peak" right before a shoot. (I really just needed a reason to post a picture of Jessica Biel.)
Peaking usually involves using dehydration techniques, low-carb eating, and glycogen-depleting exercises with a few tricks thrown in. For me, it also means I get to eat a lot of sugary food the day before the shoot.
I’m basing my program on an article published on one of the websites I contribute to, T-Nation.
If you’re already relatively lean and have an important event coming up, I suggest you try it out yourself.
Just don’t cut costs too much and start eating cat-food. Trust me, it doesn’t work. And Lou isn’t always right.
And if you’re not quite where you need to be physique-wise, hold tight. I’ve got more to come on body transformation.
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