1.       Order your food

Load up on the greens first. Start every meal off with a fibrous array of leafy greens. Personally, I love arugula salad with a little walnut oil and some lemon. MMMMMMMMM. Then move onto your meats and fats. Eat your dense carb sources last.



2.       Micro-fasts

24 hour fasts are cool. But micro-fasts are even sexier. I typically don’t eat my first meal until around four or five o’clock every day. Don’t listen to General Mill’s propaganda. Breakfast is actually the worst meal of the day. And cheerios suck.



3.       The Kettlebell Swing Quota

Short and intense bouts of exercise performed intermittently throughout the day will radically accelerate your fat loss, especially when performed in a fasted state. Here is my challenge to you: set yourself a daily swing quota. If you’re just starting out, make it between 100-200 swings a day. I don’t care how you break it up, but you must hit your quota by the end of the day. 

Howdy.

Today, I have a special treat for you...

Not like a comestible kind of treat (that would arouse the suspicious of Lola...)

Better even.

An excerpt from my new book! (bet you didn't even know I was writing one!)

I don't want to release too many details as of yet, but stay tuned, as I will be "carpeting bombing" you all with the release date once it's set in stone.

Coming off the heels of my last post, and the overwhelming response I got through comments, emails, and Facebook messages regarding why on Earth I'm "going against the grain" and telling people to eat mostly at night, I feel compelled to share a section in regards to why we should eat according to our nervous system and our innate circadian clock.

It's funny.

Someone even called me a "nutritional heretic"!

I guess that means I'm doing my job right!

:D

Now look, I know it sounds a bit crazy, and goes against mainstream nutrition. But that's my freaking point! When someone tells me "I've always heard this, or I've always heard that...", well, freaking DUH! America is fatter, softer, and more diabetic than ever before! Are you trying to tell me that popular notion and mainstream nutritional practices are anything short of disastrous?!? Most people would probably be considerably better off if they  just did the complete opposite of everything that is recommended by "mainstream nutrition"! I mean, up until recently, the bottom of the food pyramid was comprised of grains! No freaking wonder so many Americans are pre-diabetic and overweight - you can practically see the insulin oozing out of their eyeballs and fingernails! Now that's not saying that flipping the food-pyramid upside down would do anyone much better (it's a diabolic creation anyway you spin it), but it is paints a very clear picture of the inadequacies and ignorance of governing food agencies.

Furthermore, this isn't just some crazy concept that I threw out there to cause a ruckus (that's why I put up pictures of Lola!). Eating according to our innate circadian clock and consuming the majority of our food at night was something I was first introduced to when I read the Warrior Diet by Ori Hoffmeckler about five years ago now. A tremendous read that impacted my nutritional philosophies greatly. Furthermore, all of this is quite evidence based, but as always - the proof is in the pudding. Try it for yourself. I DARE YOU to have anything less than spectacular results!

I hope you all enjoy this brief excerpt from my upcoming book explaining just one reason why you should consume the majority of your food at night! Please post any questions or comments you have below in the comment section!

"Everything in nature is cyclical.

From the tides of the ocean, to the rising and setting of the sun, to the wave-like trending of the economy, to the four seasons, and within the human body – we have cyclical nature of our  sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.

The sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system are two primary components of our autonomic nervous system. Our autonomic nervous system (or ANS for the sake of brevity) is what controls many of our bodily functions that are below our level of consciousness – such as our heart rate, respiratory rate, perspiration, and even… dare I say… sexual arousal? J

The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is for the most part, our day-time nervous system. Our SNS controls our “fight-or-flight response. It may be simpler to think of this as our nervous system that allows us to kick some serious ass. When we are under control of our sympathetic nervous system we are naturally more alert, resistant to fatigue, burn-fat (through the mobilization of our stored fatty acids), and ultimately expend the most energy.

Our parasympathetic is for the most part, our night-time nervous system. Our PSNS controls our ability to rest, digest, recuperate, absorb and replenish nutrients, and ultimately sleep.

If you haven’t already figured it out yourself, one nervous system (SNS) is clearly superior to the other for burning fat and kicking-ass. Conversely, we want to be under control of our parasympathetic nervous system whenever it is time to rest, rejuvenate and catch some serious Z’s.

Now what role does food play in all of this?

Everything!

Our sympathetic nervous system is stimulated by a LACK of food (not by food itself), whereas a large meal will actually throw us into our parasympathetic nervous system (exactly why you feel like taking a nap after a hefty lunch).

Meaning that mainstream nutritional practices (such as frequenty feeding – 4 to 6 small meals aday) will only serve to continuously shut down our sympathetic nervous system, inhibit our ability to mobilize stored body fat, reduce our insulin sensitivity, impair our ability to most effectively utilize nutrients, and make it all the more difficult for us to kick some serious ass! Which often leads to a chronic condition known as “I’m fat and suck.”

Humans for thousands of years THRIVED from a lack of food. It would behoove us to take a serious lesson in “how to kick ass” from our ancestors, and realize that feeding need not be regimented, but SPORADIC!"



As always - please lift responsibly,


- Pat Flynn


PS - Kick "kicking ass and burning fat" into a higher gear! Check out our new Physique Transformation Bundle Package! CLICK HERE

Enticing headline, isn’t it?

Well,I got news for ya, this isn’t just for men. This is for all walks of life who are serious about doing what it takes to get chiseled abs and rock hard glutes.

And this isn’t women’s, ahem, I mean, men’s health.

And, as a matter of fact, in terms of traffic, the Chronicles of Strength is now a top 500 blog (not bad in a field of over 130 million competitors! - and to celebrate, we are giving away a free SWAG bag!) and beating the pants off both Men’s Health Australia, and Men’s Health Singapore (at least according to Experian Hitwise).

Suckers.

And to me, it’s no mystery why that is.

Because our content doesn’t suck.

The esteemed professional wrestler Sid Viscious once said that 99% of everything is, well, crap.

He used a stronger word than crap of course.I don't like to use words like that. I have a name for people that use words like that, but I won't say what it is because it isn't very nice.

Well, we are the 1%. And proud of it.

And I’m going to prove it once again by giving you seven tips that don’t suck, actually work, and that you can implement right now for some serious fat burning results. You’ll thank me later…

The thing that sucks about dieting, cutting calories, or cutting carbohydrates is that it only takes about a week for your body to adapt to the caloric and carbohydrate deficit. This is why we experience diminishing returns and ultimately hit those dreaded plateaus.

A lot, not all of it, but a lot of this has to do with our thyroid output and leptin levels. If you want to know more about the nitty gritty scientificals behind what all that is and why it matters, just read my Metabolic Reset eBook.

When we consume less, our body, of course, wants to burn less, and it only takes about a week for it to start doing that.

But we’re not going to let that happen. We’re going to hit the “reset” button.

“Wait. You’re not the boss of me. You can’t tell me what to do!”

You’re absolutely right! You can do whatever the heck you want!

But I hope you’ll choose to do what works and stop wasting your time with what doesn’t.

“But how do I know that it’s going to work?”

Please don’t give me another excuse to put another half-nude and semi-awkward picture of myself online. Because you know I will. Rather, just go read even a few of the seemingly endless success stories that we’ve had over the past year since releasing the Metabolic Reset over at the store page and see for yourself!

“Ok. So how do I hit the reset button?”                                           

You binge! Eat as much of whatever the freak you want for one day a week. This will have insulin oozing out of your eyeballs and fingernails, which typically isn’t such a desirable thing but does wonders for bringing thyroid and leptin levels back to where you want them to be for maximum body fat annihilation.

“Can I eat pizza?”

Damn right. You SHOULD eat pizza.

“Pie?”

So long as it’s coconut cream.

“Really?”

No.

Eat whatever freaking kind of pie that you want.

“Wait, won’t I get fat?”

First off, I don’t even know who you are, but I’m telling you no, you won’t get fat.

Well, actually that depends on what you mean by “fat”.

Will you gain a little bit of fat? Perhaps, depending on how you entered your binge day (more on that later).

But here’s the thing, only losers focus on the short term. Winners see the big picture. If binging once a week will allow you to burn 2lbs of fat throughout the rest of the week, then who cares if the one day of binging has you gain 0.5lb of fat. Because in the long run, you are still down 1.5lbs of fat, if my calculus is correct. Which it is.

So let loose and don’t worry about a thang.

Think about it like this:

What would happen if you lit a match, held it under your butt, and farted?

You’d laugh right? Well, assuming nothing went terribly wrong that is…

You’d laugh, I’d laugh, we’d all laugh. It’d be hilarious, and we’d have a great time. We’d tell all of our friends the next day and probably be the most popular kids in school. That is, if we were still in school, and had any friends to tell about it.

“But what does that have to do with burning fat?”

Absolutely NOTHING!

Except EVERYTHING!

When you binge you have lit the proverbial match and restored life to your once monstrous metabolism. You have reset your metabolism and things are cookin’ again. Fasting—and what will be tip #2 will be the proverbial fart – which will act to EXPLODE the fat-burning process!

You see, after you’ve binged, your body is primed and ready to start burning fat so through implementing a tactical 24-hour post-binging fast and therefore, allowing glucagon and natural growth hormone to surge over insulin (which is one of the many amazing things that happens when you actually don’t eat!), we will tap into our stored body fat and obliterate it!

“So, when can I eat again?”

I like to time it so that I finish my binge on 6pm Friday night, which in turn begins my fast at 6pm Friday night. I then time my workout to be between 3-5pm on Saturday afternoon. That way I can almost go right back to eating once I am done my workout. Notice I said almost. Don’t eat immediately post-workout, as that will halt the fat-burning process.

“What kind of workouts are we talking about? Like those cattle-ball things?”

You mean, kettlebells? Sure. That brings us to tip number 2…

I actually don’t like the saying “train like a man”. Because even though almost every man in the world likes to think they know how to train, very few actually do. I was one of those folks all throughout high school. Then, I got smart and started learning from the best. It’s also when I started getting the best results. Not a coincidence.

Don’t let your ego get in the way of what works.

And don’t believe that if you just work hard enough, then good things will come.

That is the biggest load of crap – whether that advice is directed towards fitness, schooling, business, you name it.

Hard work does not equal success.

I know many, many Americans who work their asses off every day trying to lose weight, yet never do. I know many, many Americans every day who work their asses off at their job, yet still have a rather measly salary. I could go on and on, but the evidence is quite clear that hard work alone is not what pays off.

Effective work is where you want to focus your energy. Working hard for the sake of working hard makes about as much sense as banging your head against a wall hoping to get through it (rather than using the door) and about as much fun, too.

Your first priority should always be to seek out what is effective. What will get you the closest to your goals? Then, work smart and efficiently at what is effective (how can you apply the bare minimum principle to what is effective?).

I don’t value hard work. And neither should you.

I could work my ass off running on a treadmill for two hours every day, and be nowhere near as lean as I am today by spending 40 minutes a day, 2-3 days per week working metabolic conditioning via kettlebell complex training.

Now anybody who has put themselves through the ringer that is my Birth of a Hero program knows that metabolic conditioning is far from easy. It would actually be quite safe to say that the Birth of a Hero may very well be the most painfully grueling and horribly masochistic program you ever put yourself through.

But anyone who has stuck with it undoubtedly knows that it works, and it works damn well.

Good science is repeatable my friends, and that is exactly what the Birth of a Hero is based off of.

Metabolic conditioning is the unrivaled king of rapid fat loss because it will not only help to dump the fatty acids into your blood stream (a process helped along by the adrenaline from heavy lifting), but since you are constantly switching between and utilizing multiple energy systems (phosphagenic, glycolytic, and oxidative), you will also burn those fatty acids off – which to me sounds like the most important part! Doesn’t that sound like the most important part to you as well? Well, most folks don’t take that into consideration.

I have a name for folks like that. But I’m not going to share it because it isn’t very nice.

Heavy lifting is great, but the problem with just heavy lifting for fat loss is the process of re-esterfication, which is when you dump the fatty acids into your blood stream but fail to burn them off so they simply transport back into their cozy little fat cells. The problem with just traditional cardio is that there is little long-term metabolic effect, or EPOC. The Birth of a Hero solves those problems by bringing together the best of both worlds through the pairing of moderate to heavy strength efforts and elevated cardiovascular stress.

Here is the Great Destroyer, one of our finest kettlebell complexes found in the Birth of a Hero. Now, if this doesn’t get you excited to start the Birth of a Hero program, then I don’t know what will!

If you want a cute tight butt, then you need to deadlift and squat.  Heavy.  At least 1x a week.

Or if you just want to be downright strong, then you need to deadlift and squat . Heavy. At least 1x a week.

Here's a bonus tip - If you can deadlift or squat a weight for ten times. It ain't heavy.

And if you really want a sexy, functional silverback behind, then get on our Prometheus Protocol!

So some days you will be lifting heavy, and other days you will be doing your metabolic conditioning. But please don’t bother trying to do a lousy “ab workout” at the end of your training sessions. This isn’t planet fitness or the YMCA. If you want a serious functional set of abs, then you need to get serious about training your core. You owe it to yourself to dedicate an entire session to working every facet of your core’s functionality – such as anti-flexion, anti-extension, anti-rotation, and then of course, flexion, extension, and rotation.

Here is a short compilation of my top ten favorite core training movements. Enjoy.

If you are serious about burning fat, well, then, you have to let your body burn fat, and post-workout is the absolute best opportunity for that to occur. I recommend that you spend 20-30 minutes post-workout going for a brisk walk or performing some other sort of low intensity type of activity, rather than cramming your face full of gummi bears ( you know the type of dude I’m talking about, I know you do! I know you’ve seen the dude that brings gummi bears and jelly beans into the gym! DO NOT BE THAT GUY!) and halting the fat burning process.

Also note, that contrary to popular belief, muscle insulin sensitivity is severely inhibited immediately post-workout due to the micro trauma that has occurred (your muscles actually become temporarily insulin-resistant). So while it is true that insulin is at peak sensitivity post-workout, it is your muscles receptiveness to insulin that matters. Your best bet is to wait 30 minutes post-workout and let those fatty acids continue to oxidize and then have some sort of quick-digesting protein source, such as a whey protein. After about 60 minutes post-workout you may then have your carb and protein meal to start replenishing glycogen.

A pre-workout protein shake is a good idea indeed! This makes sense since increased protein synthesis is metabolically expensive, and a handful of recent studies, LIKE THIS ONE HERE, have brought the proof of this to light!

To summarize - having protein before a high intensity training session increases resting energy expenditure. Increased resting energy expenditure (or REE, if your into whole abbreviation game) is a good thing, if you are looking to lean out. Trust me on this one.

Again, the tried-and-true winner here would be a simple whey protein powder.

In the Metabolic Reset, I give the option of a few different pre-workout drinks – some carb-based, and others protein-based. If your goal is max fat loss, stick with protein pre-workout, not carbs.

If nothing else, swing a freaking kettlebell, dewd. I mean it. If you can’t commit to the Birth of a Hero, fine, no offense taken. But at least commit to twenty minutes of two hand swings, three days a week. That’s it! As far as bang for your buck movements go, the kettlebell swing is quite possibly number one.

Also, take the time to learn how to swing properly. This movement is great proprioception and great for learning how to hinge into deep hip flexion and develop power form the hips. And does it work for stripping of body fat? Yes, it works fabulously well, indeed – so long as you follow my other tips on nutrition that is.

Everybody has to start somewhere, and if you aren’t ready for the Birth of a Hero, then this tip is for you. Just start with swings and progress from there. CLICK HERE for a tutorial I put together a while back to teach you the how to properly execute a kettlebell swing.

One note I want to make is that I have recently seen a lot of people just not give a crap about their shoulder position in the deadlift and the swing. This is unacceptable. Stop hanging off your passive structures.

I have a name for people that hang off their passive structures, but again I’m not going to say it because it’s not very nice.

Here is a clip from a seminar I put on at Millersville University where I teach the proper shoulder position for the swing. Enjoy.

There you have it. Seven quick tips you can implement now for accelerated fat loss. Please post any questions you have in the comment section, or just leave some love.

As always, thank you for your time.

And please lift responsibly.

-          Pat Flynn

I know you want the COS Swag Bag...

As of February, the Chronicles of Strength has made it into a top 500 blog, according to Experian Hitwise. This of course, is a remarkable achievement and a cause for great celebration!

None of this would have ever been possible without all of your loyal and continued support. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart for investing your time and health into the Chronicles of Strength.

I promise you I will continue to deliver nothing short of the most reliable, effective, and valuable content.

You will never get any crap from me. I know how valuable your time is, and to show how much I respect that, I will never waste it.

Furthermore, I want to give away some Swag Bags to a few of you awesome readers.

In case you missed the last post the Swag Bag contains the elusive and highly valued Chronicles of Strength T-Shirt, which can be seen in this video HERE, as well as a hard copy of our Birth of a Hero book.

If you want a Swag Bag,  just tell me what you want to see more of on the Chronicles of Strength in the comment section, and I will select two folks at random to receive some COS Swag.

I want to know what YOU want, so speak up, and win some swag!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tack on the absolute most amount of clean muscle mass possible over the next ninety days following the Prometheus Protocol.

Here are the rules, if you wish to compete for a shot at glory, fame, and a lifetime subscription to our SuperHero Development Program along with a host of other goodies (listed below).

1. Email me directly at HardstyleKettlebells@yahoo.com with the subject line of "Prometheus Challenge". Tell me your name and that you want to be a part of this challenge.

2. Give me yo pics and yo stats - Not just taking anyone's "word" for it. You'll need to get into your skivvies and take some before pics. One profile pic (that's from the side) and one frontal pic (thats from...well, the front). Sure, you can flex... don't be shy.... I will also need your current height and weight. If you have any questions about this, please make them known in the email.

3. You must email my by Friday, April 13th to be eligible. As the official challenge will begin on Monday, April 16th.

What the Winner Gets:

• A lifetime subscription to our SuperHero Development Program
• Our ENTIRE eBook collection
• The highly esteemed and incredibly rare Chronicles of Strength T-Shirt
• Free publicity! An entire blog post dedicated entirely to the winner and his/her success story, a link back to his/her site. Fame, glory, and life as a god-king!

Why YOU Should Take the 90-Day Prometheus Challenge:

Aside from the host of potential goodies that you can win, taking on this challenge will help you to commit towards success! Telling someone else that you are going to do something will suddenly and drastically amplify your motivation and level of commitment, do not underestimate the power of this when it comes to achieving your goals! We have put this challenge together for YOU, and to ensure that you do put on the absolute most amount of muscle mass in the least amount of time possible, so please take FULL advantage of this opportunity. Accountability is a rare thing these days, and we are offering it to you for FREE.

Let the games begin!

Please post any questions, comments, or concerns you may have in the comment section below. Or just leave some love :D

Here's a two minute mobility drill used to assess/improve T-spine mobility and stability at your t-l junction. Enjoy and post any questions below!