Ab Training with PROLAB’s Thanh Le

Today we will talk about abs.  Everybody wants them, but a lot of people don’t know how to get them.

First thing’s first, doing hundreds and thousands of crunches and abs exercises every day will not get you the abs you want. So with that being said…abs start in the kitchen.  You need to have a clean diet so that you are able to drop your body fat percentage down low enough so that the hard work you put in will show. Yes it’s Halloween, and yes the holidays are here, but right after the holidays, Spring will be just around the corner. So if you want to be ready for Spring and Summer, then you’d better start eating clean now – and to get that extra fat burning potential, I always take my PROLAB Thermo Fire.

I do a circuit-like ab routine. When doing abs, as with any other exercise, you want to keep the movement slow and controlled. Focus on the contraction of your abdomen. For that extra contraction, breathe out as you are contracting the muscle.

So let’s get started.  There will be two groups of exercises. In each group, you will do the exercises back to back with no rest in between – and that will be one set. You can take 1-2min rest in between sets. If the exercise is weighted, choose a weight that will make it burn by the 10^th rep. Start low and increase as needed.

Group One:

• Rope Crunches (weighted) – 15 reps
• Hanging Leg Raises (weighted, I grasp a dumbbell with my feet) – 15 reps
• Dumbbell Side Bends (weighted) – 20 reps on each side

Group Two:

• Exercise Ball Crunch – 15 reps
• Laying Scissors Kicks – 1 min
• Oblique Crunches – 20 reps on each side
• Planks – 1min

Post Competition Thoughts -by Thanh Le

This past weekend I competed in the Shawn Ray Grand Prix in Baltimore, MD. This was my second show and I’m happy that I placed 3^rd in my class out of 10 competitors and I qualified for Nationals. I won a samurai sword set for placing in the top 5, which I think was a pretty awesome prize. As with the first show, I learned a lot about my body and what works well for me during prep.

During this prep, I trained like I do in the offseason, lifting hard and heavy up until about 2-3 weeks out from the show. At that point, each workout was a full body, high rep and moderate weight workout. What I was doing was depleting all my glycogen stores from my muscles and trying to add some extra detail and separation to my muscles. This worked well for me, but the only downside was that I got sick about 4 weeks out, and I couldn’t train for about a week.  So with training and seeing how I fared with the other competitors, my goal for my next show on March 23^rd is to train abs with heavier weight to bring out the size and fullness of them, increase my cardio so I can be even leaner and more conditioned.

My diet for this show was not as super strict, since I do stay lean all year round, but I do need to revamp for my next show. I was able to have a few cheat meals, but only with the help of PROLAB Thermo Fire and Cuts II Gold. With that stack, I was able to keep my body in a fat burning mode all day long, and the Cuts II Gold helped me shed excess water. Carb cycling worked wonders for my physique. What carb cycling does is it allows you to lose body fat without risk of losing too much muscle. You go through a few days of low to no carbs, which will put you in a calorie deficit, and that way you are able to shed some access fat. During this time, you will be low on energy and strength, and possibly be super irritable, as I was.  You want to set your cycle to where your high carb days would be around your heavy training days. When you carb load, you will replenish all your glycogen stores and refuel your muscles. I plan to keep the same diet for the next time around.

All in all, competing is always a great experience and you meet a lot of wonderful people that have a common interest. If you have ever thought about competing, I say go for it! Find a show, set the date, set your goals and go achieve them. It’s a wonderful feeling and also a great way to learn about your body.

Keep up the hard work PROLAB Nation!!!!

Make the Most of Your Time -by Charles Turner

With the responsibilities of a new job, I’ve found that my schedule has become extremely hectic. I think we can all agree that finding time to get to the gym with a busy schedule can be a daunting task. What I’ve learned is how to become more efficient with the time I do have. Below are some steps I’ve taken to make things a little easier, and hopefully they can help you as well!

All it takes is 3 days a week at the gym. No more than an hour at a time.

1. Choose resistance training over cardio. Your body burns calories 48-72 hours after a weight training workout. Bottom line lifting weights burns fat, even out of the gym.
2. Incorporate full body workouts. Not only will these type of workouts burn greater amounts of calories, but they will also allow for a better recovery time since you’ll only be training 3 days a week. This type of workout will allow for greater flexibility with a busy schedule. There will be no reason to stress when you miss a workout, because your entire body is covered.
3. Utilize intensity techniques such as super sets, tri sets and giant sets. Not only will the workout be more time efficient, but it will be more intense leading to greater calorie expenditure.

Nutrition and Supplement sense for the busy individual.

1. Do you find it difficult to consume 6 small meals a day? Give Intermittent fasting a try! I’ve had great success with this approach, and feel that it’s more geared to the busy individual. Basically you have an eating period of 8 hours, and a fasting period of 16. The beauty of this approach is that it allows you set up your eating times according to your schedule. Not only that it gives you more flexibility with your eating, but if you slip up on your diet, you don’t have to beat yourself up all day long!
2. For those sitting the majority of the day take advantage of supplements such as PROLAB Advanced Caffeine and Thermo Fire. These products will have a thermogenic effect, increasing metabolic, and overall calorie expenditure during grueling training sessions and help outside the gym as well.
3. To prevent muscle wasting and keep and cortisol levels to a minimum due to high stress, consume 1 serving PROLAB Whey Isolate and Glutamine Pre and Post workout, and 2 servings on  non-training days.

Now I’m not saying that this is a fool proof plan, but it might make your life a little easier, and help you get the most out of the time you do have!

Thermo Fire for Contest Prep -by Thanh Le

Since I decided to do another show, I added PROLAB Thermo Fire to my pre-contest stack, and let me tell you, I love this stuff. This stacked with PROLAB Cuts II Gold is amazing. I take 2 capsules in the morning before breakfast and 2 more capsules before I eat lunch. I’m not really a morning person and I’m pretty slow, so the caffeine in it works great to get me up and going. One of the other reasons I love this product is that I actually FEEL the product working. Most of my day is spent at my cubicle, but I feel my body temperature increase and my heart rate is also increased. This is the “whole body burn” that I look for. The increased heart rate and body temperature helps shed the body fat by increasing your body’s metabolism.

I highly recommend this product to anyone that is trying to shed a little body fat…or a lot of body fat. Thermo Fire stacked with Cuts II Gold along with a proper nutrition and training program will get you the results you want. Give it a try and get ready to see the difference.

Contest Update! -Thanh Le

So I’m still on for the Shawn Ray Grand Prix in Maryland at the end of October, which will be my second show. I’m hoping to do better in this contest.  I’ve been having some neck pain for about two weeks now, but I’m still hitting it hard.

For my workouts, I’m trying to keep some size while adding some definition at the same time. Workouts are changing every week. One week I’ll go heavy and the next week will be lighter weight with higher reps. I’ve also incorporated explosive CrossFit type movements into my regimen to shock my muscles a little bit. I plan to keep this up until the show. Conditioning was my downfall at my last show, so I’m going to be doing 45min of cardio after each weight training session.

I’m dialing down on my diet and I’ve added PROLAB Thermo Fire to my precontest supplement stack. With the addition of Thermo Fire, my body is constantly at an elevated temperature and metabolism is increased to burn those extra calories and fat.

I have a pretty hard time holding onto muscle mass, so carb cycling works well for me. I’ll have two days of low carb meals, which is around 100g, and then a day with high carbs all coming from rice or sweet potatoes. Fish, mainly tilapia and salmon, is my main protein this time around for pre-contest. For my fish, I usually use Mrs. Dash to season it or I’ll make my own Teriyaki with Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, Stevia, salt and garlic.

Continue to Eat Clean and Train Hard guys!

Home Life & Bodybuilding: A Balancing Act -by Malcolm Marshall

My training has changed in the past few weeks. My weight has dropped around 30lbs in the past 6 weeks so I’m not training as heavy but definitely putting in more repetitions.  I’m doing more drop sets than normal to really fill my muscles up with blood and to get that burn that I’m always feeling for.  A drop set is when you super set the same movement while dropping the weight between each series of repetitions. The weight decreases because I want to avoid any injuries. As my weight decreases, my joints get smaller which can lead to sprains and strains.

I have increased my protein about 100 grams to over 400 grams a day and cut my carbohydrates down to around 90 grams a day.  My water intake has increased another gallon, this has really helped me shed fat and unwanted water.  Not to mention the effects of Thermo Fire, the amazing thermogenic fat burner by PROLAB which gives me that “whole body burn” and the results that I’m always looking for.

In my free time, when I’m not training one of my many clients, I have been spending time training my 10 yr old son. He just completed his second year of USATF track where he finished 6^th in the 200m.  In 2011 he was ranked 844^th and 2012 he finished 6^th, that was quite an accomplishment and as you can tell I’m quite proud of him. Football season has started and I’m now helping out with his team. Nothing like giving back what someone gave me as a youth.

Deciding on my next show… -by Thanh Le

My first show this year was definitely an experience and I’m looking forward to my next show. After the first show and seeing my competition, I took some time off to re-evaluate where I am with my training and conditioning. I had originally planned to do the NPC Jay Cutler Classic on August 25^th, but at this point, I don’t think I’m ready. Training hasn’t been top notch due to recurring injuries and pain.

So given that, most likely I will be competing in the NPC Shawn Ray Baltimore/Washington Grand Prix on October 27th. This will give me about 11 weeks to prepare for this show. I want to come out in better shape and more conditioned than my last show, since there is pretty big competition in these Maryland shows.

With the amount of time I have, I want to add some more size and definition to my abs. This is going to require a lot more ab exercises with weights, but I also have to be careful not to overdo it since working on my core puts a little stress on my lower back. Other areas that I plan on improving during this prep is working on the shape of my chest and definition on my arms and shoulders. I’m going to do this with different grip changes and rep ranges for all my exercises and I’ve added a new conditioning aspect to my workouts with TRX and Plyometrics.

In the next couple of weeks, I’ll be adding back PROLAB Thermo Fire to my supplement arsenal. Thermo Fire helps increase body temperature and metabolism which will help shed some extra fat during my prep. This along with my carb cycling diet and daily cardio, I think I’ll be ready to take the stage again and hopefully bring home a trophy.

Countdown to the NPC Maryland State/East Coast Classic -by Thanh Le

2 MORE DAYS!!! And I will be competing in the NPC Maryland State/East Coast Classic. Am I excited??? Extremely!  Am I nervous? Absolutely!!! This all is going to be a great experience for me. My energy levels are pretty low and I’m easily irritated, due to the low carbs at this point. All I’m getting in right now is about ½- ¾ cups of oats in the AM, and 1 or 2 rices cakes or slices of Ezekiel bread the rest of the day. I do have help with PROLAB QuickFire and ThermoFire and I’m able to squeeze a little bit of a workout in and some cardio. I can’t wait to carb up tomorrow, rest up and prepare for my show.

Since I’ve been talking a little more about diet in my recent blogs, here’s a quick, easy and delicious breakfast for all of you who are tired of eating the same ol’ oats and eggs in the morning.

3/4 cup liquid egg whites
1/2 Whole rolled oats
1 scoop PROLAB Vanilla Whey Isolate

Blend all up in the Magic Bullet and cooked in the griddle.
Top with:

1 banana
Sprinkle of cinnamon
1 packet Sweetleaf stevia
Drizzle of honey

You guys can mix it up so many different ways. Top with different fresh fruit. Add nuts in after blending the batter. Use sugar-free syrup.  Just read your labels before adding extra ingredients.

2012 NPC Maryland State/East Coast Classic finally here! -by Thanh Le

Wow, I can’t believe my first contest is only a few days away. It has all come so fast since I first decided that I was going to compete. Changing my diet, adding in cardio, increasing my workouts, and definitely changing up supplementation regime are a few of the things that I’ve had to do.

Changing up my diet is one of the harder things that I’ve had to do. I have a major sweet tooth, and cutting out all the simple carbs and sugars was difficult for the first couple of weeks. I’ve increased the amount of daily protein by eating bigger portions of steak, fish, and chicken and the only complex carbs that I take in are my oats in the morning, sweet potatoes or brown rice for lunch and dinner, and the rest are veggies. I carb cycle, so I would do 3-4 low carbs days(about 50g-100g), and then a carb load day(300g+). I have other influences that try to get me off track, but when it comes to prep, you have to stay strong.

Instead of my normal workouts where I focus on just one major body part, I do several body parts during my workout. The low carb days don’t give me enough energy I need, so I take my PROLAB Quick Fire and do a circuit like training session. I jump from one body part to the next with little rest, and pump and engorge the muscles with blood. This gives me a full pump and a cardio like session. On top of that, I’ll add another 30-45min of cardio either in the same workout, or I come back later. I pretty much live in the gym.

My daily supplement regime currently looks like this:

Morning: PROLAB Whey Isolate, Glutamine, Cuts II Gold, and ThermoFire

Lunch: PROLAB Cuts II Gold and ThermoFire

PreWorkout: PROLAB QuickFire, Whey Isolate, Glutamine, BCAA Plus, and Beta Alanine Extreme

PostWorkout: PROLAB Whey Isolate, BCAA Plus, and Glutamine

Prepping for the North American Championships with Thermo Fire -by Malcolm Marshall

As I prepare for the 2012 North American Championships I will rely heavily on Thermo Fire.

Thermo Fire is a powerful thermogenic fat burner developed by PROLAB that burns calories and fat like you would not believe. Normally, I take two in the morning before breakfast and two in the afternoon before my afternoon workout.

My initial weight when I started dieting was 325 lbs., my stage weight is usually around 275 lbs. That’s 50lbs that I have to shed and Thermo Fire will assist me in this endeavor.

Read more about Thermo Fire here:  http://www.prolab.com/product/thermo-fire/