A look into my current program
For the past 4 weeks I've been hitting it hard and I'm very close to being where I want to be (body fat wise..new pics and youtube vids soon) I've been using a new approach to nutrition,workouts and supplementation. So far the results have been the best yet. The program is designed to build strength, maximize fullness, and burn fat. A little about my current nutrition is that I have 3 different meal plans for the week. Once a week I've been having my cheat meals 
For one meal out of the 42 I have in a week I eat whatever I want. If you follow me on Facebook or twitter you have prob seen a couple pics. Cheat meals can be very beneficial to your diet as long as you have discipline and are able to control it. A couple of guidelines I follow is that I make sure to be done with my meal within 45-1hr. I used to not follow that in the past and it would turn into a all night event of munching... Not good. Secondly I always have it as a replacement for meal 6. If you choose to have it early in the day your most likely going to miss meals and end up cheating again. Lastly I make it carbohydrate rich. Some of my go to cheats are pizza,homemade burgers and fries, baked ziti, Mexican and sushi. My desert the past couple of weekends has been a red velvet cupcake on top of 2 slices of cheesecake. Ok enough about food! As for my workout routines they have switched up too and I'm using a periodization protocol with higher volume. Very intense! Cardio has been low intensity empty stomach as soon as I wake up. Incline treadmill with the incline set on 15 the whole time. Give it a try you won't be able to go as fast but it's challenging. I keep my heart rate around 130-145. I'm gearing up to resume filming for my members section and once it's launched you will have full details everyday of my diet and the new workout program I've been doing.
Up until last week my cough had still been lingering but it is now officially done! I have not yet rescheduled my shoot for silver models in NYC because right now my priority is getting my members section launched. Everyone keep training your ass off!
Questions – 5/30/2012
Ash
hey bro, quick question, if i decide to do an empty stomach cardio in the morning for bout 35-40min, would i need a post workout meal after that or would breakfast count as the "post workout meal"? i know you also recommended taking BCAA's before morning cardio, which i will be doing, your advice would be great
29 May 2012
Tyler - Your first meal of the day (breakfast) would be considered your post workout meal. I would try to get that meal in as soon as you get cleaned up from cardio.
Andrew
What kind of cardio do you recommend? HIIT or low intensity?
28 May 2012
Tyler - I think they both have there place. I love the way high intensity give me the endorphin rush afterward but it is very taxing on your central nervous system. I'm choosing to do all low intensity right now. If your going to do HIIT make sure to give your body plenty of rest. I suggest doing HIIT only on the days off that your not weight training.
John
Hey Tyler, quick question about my split... would two chest days in the same week be bad? Say if I did chest on monday and then on Friday also? Thanks a ton for everything Tyler!
27 May 2012
Tyler - I wouldn't say it's a bad thing. I gave that a try for about 6 months. What you want to keep in mind though is that if you train it every week on monday and friday your going giving your chest 2 days break every week from friday to monday's session. What I suggest doing is training chest every 4th day. That will require you to move some of your days around. Or if you insist on training every week monday and friday use one session for more of a pump workout and the other for your heavy stuff.
doug stikeleather
Hey Tyler man your an inspiration but i was looking for tips for a beginning bulk. Should i stick with a certain macro ratio or just go 1.5g of protein per pound I weigh?
26 May 2012
Tyler - Adding quality mass is more than just a protein concern. Your going to need a good amount of carbs and fats as well. If I were to bulk up right now I would follow a protocol like this. Protein 1.5g-2g per body lb, Carbs 2g per body lb, and Fats a little over half a gram per lb. Also once or twice a week I would throw in some cheat meals too.
Health Update 2
Yesterday I had to go back to the doctor for a follow up for him to see how I am progressing. Everyone at the office was saying how I look so much better..the front desk girl said she thought I was dieing on Friday when I had come in. The nurse told me that I have my color back and that I looked grey last time. They took another X-Ray to check on my lungs and the Dr was very happy and said that it is about 60% better than it was on Friday. So he released me and said that I would be able to lift weights this weekend! Each day I'm feeling more normal I just can't wait to be 100% healthy again. It's now been 2 weeks and that feels like forever. It's crazy how quick life can change and everything can be taken away from you. So this brings me back to some of my previous posts...Don't take advantage of being able to workout each day. Embrace it and train like it could be the last time you train.
This will only be the third day that I'm back to eating 6 meals a day. My weight is still at 200lb and doesn't seem to be budging yet even with some cheat meals thrown in the mix. I'm hoping by the end of the week my weight will start coming back. I will post up my workouts that I do this weekend.
Past 5 Days
5 days in a row of workouts and my body is officially worn out. Since Brian was in town I wanted to take him through all muscle groups except the only one we didn't hit together was quads. Here is a rundown of what we did the past 5 days.. We used a lot of different techniques with partials,negatives,high reps,low reps, pre-exhaust,super sets,fst-7.
- Friday - Chest/Biceps
- Saturday - Hamstrings/Calf
- Sunday - Back
- Monday - Abs/Shoulders/Calf
- Tuesday - Arms
I have a slow day with clients so I'm going to use this time to just recover. I speak with Hany on Friday to find out what the game plan is now that I have to be prepared to shoot within 4-6 weeks so I know everything is about to get kicked into high gear. I can't wait to see what the final product looks like and I'll post more once I know more of when I'm going to NYC etc. One thing I know that will change is no more cheat meals until I'm done with my shoots. On a different note the weather has been awesome here and I'm hoping this spring weather is here to stay!
Questions – 2/9/2012
Sam
Ty, just reffering back to my previous post but just curious as to why you said that running "burns off more muscle" than doing a stair climber? if you are working in a similar heart rate zone for the same amount of time what is the difference?
9 February 2012
Tyler - If you keep your heart rate in the same zone then there isn't a difference. I just personally prefer to do low impact because when I used to run and sprint a lot last year my hips,knees,calfs would give me problems all the time and it made my leg strength WEAK for my workouts.
Eric
Tyler - I am getting ready to start my cut in a few days and was wondering if I should be taking creatine while I cut and if so what kind? I have gotten mixed opinions when talking to people in the gym about this. I am just about ready to order some supplements and would like to know if I should add this to the list.
9 February 2012
Tyler - I would for sure keep the creatine in. It will help keep your strength while cutting down. The only thing creatine might cause is a little water retention and you don't have to worry about that until a week before you were to say go on vacation,photo shoot,competition, etc. and then at that point a week before you would stop taking it and the little bit of water will come off.
John
Hey Tyler, hope your doing well. I have a quick question regarding diet. I'm 18, 5'10, and 160 lbs. and have a pretty fast metabolism, and I'm trying to gain lean mass. With that said, do I need to focus on clean diet (chicken, fish, sweet potato, oats, egg white, brown rice, etc.) 100% of the time or should I allow cheat meals? If I should, how often? Thanks for the inspiration Tyler, it truly makes a difference to many!
8 February 2012
Tyler - You should still get in the habit of eating several clean meals a day but don't be afraid to have 2-3 cheat meals a week. If you see that your gaining fat quickly then back it down to just 2 and if your body can't handle that back it down to 1. But seeing that your 160lb and have a cranking metabolism I think you'll be good with 3. Just spread them out over the week. 1 at the start one at the middle and another towards the end. Also another thing to keep in mind when you have your cheats is make sure your still getting a lot of protein with it. Don't just cheat on deserts and chips and junk like that. ENJOY THE GOOD EATING!
clifford
do u recommend to take a multivitamin or single vitamin? because i had read some articles that multivitamin sometimes cannot completely absorb into the body and a waste of money .. so what's your comment on it? thx~
7 February 2012
Tyler - I don't use a multi vitamin anymore or take single vitamins. Everything you need for recovery is in Cell K.E.M. That being said before I started working with Hany I was taking Optimum nutrition multi once a day with my first meal.
MW3
Hey i added you to PSN, do you still go on?
6 February 2012
Tyler - Yeah I get on everyday. I added all my new friend req on there hit me up
Yaseen
Hey Tyler- thanks for the response. so after research I've determined that my body needs anywhere from 200-350 grams of carbs a day. Rice is my favorite carb and a cup of rice seems to be 45-50 grams of carbs. Does this mean I can be eating 5-6 cups of rice a day and still be getting results. I feel as if I am eating that much rice gains in bodyfat will be sure to come. When I see many nutrition logs like yours and other fitness models they are not taking nowhere near 5-6 cups of rice. Thoughts?
5 February 2012
Tyler - It depends on what your goals are right now. If your trying to build then 5-6 cups of rice will be fine however if your trying to cut down then that would be a bit much in my opinion. I suggest giving it a try for a couple of weeks and see how you respond.
Daniel
Excluding your daily 40 minutes of cardio, how many minutes or hours long is your daily workout? One trainer told me that more than an hour, counting rest periods, is too long.
5 February 2012
Tyler - 45 minutes to 1 hr. the longest would be 1 hour and 15-20 minutes of so on a long leg day.
Questions – 1/30/2012
Sebastian
Me again, do u have any routine to develope chest? Nf btw in the other post I tried to say,: can I eat like bars with chocolate those ones that are pretty caloric ?
30 January 2012
Tyler - check last weeks post I put up a chest workout that I've been using quite a bit
Sebastian
Hey, well first I'm sorry for my English I'm Chilean, well thing is I'm 18 Ive been all my life really skinny I weight 66 kg nd my height is about 1.83 or something, i have really fast metabolism, I'm following ur work out routines nd can eat stuff like bars with chocolate nf stuff to balance the calories I've left to eat for the day or I just eat healthy cause I never eat the calories enough, cause I eat a few things nf I'm already full. Thanks a lot for ur blog nf helping each evrery1 of us nd I'm trying ur workouts nd damn they work I'm getting abs thanks a lot again dude
30 January 2012
Tyler - Even though you have a fast metabolism you still want the majority of your calories to be clean food. But definitely have a few cheat meals a week.
Cal
Tyler, was just curiouis how muhc cardio you do per week for how long and what types? Do you do steady state eg walkiing or interval? I always have this tiny bit of abdominal fat that I can never seem to shake! Peace!
30 January 2012
Tyler - I do all steady state cardio. Right now I'm doing 1 session a day 6 days a week for 45minutes. Either walking on an incline or stepmill.
Jake
When trying to put on mass, did you ever do weighted dips or weighted pull ups? Im debating on buying a dip belt to really shock my lats and tris into growth for pullups and dips.
28 January 2012
Tyler - I have done weighted pullups and dips before but prefer not to. For the pullups I could never feel it in my back from the added weight because I felt that my arms and shoulders were doing all the work. Give it a try though and see if you like it and how your body responds to it.
JOHN PETER
I AM TAKING 3 GLASS OF BANANA SHAKE ,..1 GLASS OF MILK IN WHICH 1 SCOOP OF WAYPROTEIN AFTER GYM...AND IN BREAKFAST I AM EATING 3 BOIL EGGS...AND IN LUNCH CHICKEN AMD WHITE MEET USE....THIS DIET IS ENOUGH FOR ME I AM MAKE NOT A BIG BODY I WANT TO MAKE A FIT BODY MEANS HEALTHY BODY
26 January 2012
Tyler - not sure what your trying to ask me?
Brad
Hey Tyler--great blog. I am 24, 5'11'' 170lbs, about 10-12%BF. I've been training for a little over 2 years, and I've added 30lbs of muscle in those 2 years. My goal now is to get to a lean 195, but over the past 4-6 months I've seen almost no progress in strength, size, or weight gain. My diet is not totally clean but I'm getting a decent quality 4000-4500 cal, 250-300g protein, 500-600g carbs per day, spread over 5-6 meals and protein shakes. By the time I leave the gym 5-6X a week, I leave with a big pump, feel like I lifted hard, and almost always have some degree of DOMS which leads me to believe that I still have effective workouts. Do you have any advice for those of us who are stuck at a plateau like this? At this point, is it just a matter of upping diet portions, or is it more of a workout problem?
26 January 2012
Tyler - From the sounds of it your still making progress. It's just going to take more time now that you've already finished your initial growth spurt that you get from the first couple of years. That being said I would think about trying out different food sources and experimenting around and seeing if that can help. Also you didn't mention any fat intake. To build lean mass you have to have healthy fats. So make sure you incorporate things like nuts,oils,avocado etc. Adding the fat could yield some new gains. Good luck hope this helps.
Health Benefits of Cheat Meals
Anyone that is on a well balanced healthy nutrition plan or a very strict diet knows about and loves cheat meals. I personally have them every weekend until I'm 2 weeks out from a shoot and I won't have them anymore.
There are a lot of benefits to having cheat meals. Mentally it's refreshing, physically it will fill up depleted glycogen levels (Glycogen is a polysaccharide of glucose (Glc) which functions as the secondary short term energy storage in animal cells. It is made primarily by the liver and the muscles, but can also be made by the brain and stomach. - When these levels are low your workouts will start to suffer and you will be feeling lethargic and non motivated to workout) and you will have great workouts for the next couple days after a cheat. When your body adapts to being on a restrictive caloric nutrition plan or even a balanced plan it will find a more efficient way of burning fat and calories. Our bodies are A LOT smarter than we think and it gets used to doing the same things very quick. However,There is a BIG difference in having a cheat meal vs a cheat day. I DO NOT recommend having a cheat day! Which entitles you to have whatever you want for a whole day. I think this is just setting yourself up for failure which could lead to a possible food addiction. Your body does not need that surplus of extra junk
calories. In my opinion one large meal is sufficient. Along with decreased muscle glycogen that goes with dieting, there is also a slowing of the metabolism effect. The body senses starvation and tries to lower the amount of energy it needs to continue to function on a daily basis. This means you will be burning less calories just sitting there than if you hadn't been dieting, which makes weight loss even harder. When you shock your system with a high influx of calories at once, the body's metabolism will show an increase and you'll kick start your 'furnace' into high gear once again. This will help your body to get less accustomed to running on a lower caloric level and you will start to burn fat faster again. My suggestion when to have cheat meals would depend on the level of body fat at which you are at RIGHT NOW. If your in the single digits I suggest once a week. 
If your still not quite where you want to be I suggest eating very clean for a 4 week minimum before having a cheat. Otherwise your just slowing your progress down if you were to have a cheat meal every weekend. If you find yourself eating so much you feel ill or you start fantasizing about cheat meals this is not healthy either. This is setting yourself up for an eating disorder. I've been down that road and it's not a healthy one by any means. Self Sabotage - My Personal Battle With an Eating Disorder
Categories
Shoutbox
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- Kevin
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Glad to see that you are back and training again. Looking forward to the youtube videos and website updates.
- 13 June 2012
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- will
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looking forward to your new members section. sorry some miss what you are doing for your readers
- 11 June 2012
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- w george
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if parked, car cover helps protect the paint, know how it feels to be away, return only to find it covered
- 8 June 2012
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- w george
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sorry to have that happen
- 8 June 2012
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- Sidhu Rengaraj
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i'm 90 KG with 175 cm tall..i would like to reduce 10 kg.please do suggest me to do in effective way tyler
- 5 June 2012
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- will
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wonder if a three day rotation works in exercising giving muscles more time to recover
- 2 June 2012
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- Jack
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What is your cutting ratio like? Protein:Carb:Fat?
- 1 June 2012
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- Mike
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Any suggestions on how I can get my chest to really pop? Thanks Tyler! Huge inspiration!!!
- 31 May 2012
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- Ash
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hey bro, quick question, if i decide to do an empty stomach cardio in the morning for bout 35-40min, would i need a post workout meal after that or would breakfast count as the "post workout meal"? i know you also recommended taking BCAA's before morning cardio, which i will be doing, your advice would be great
- 29 May 2012
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- Andrew
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What kind of cardio do you recommend? HIIT or low intensity?
- 28 May 2012
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