Body for Life - Bill Phillips (and Michael D'Orso)
If you're an American visiting this site you'll almost definitely have heard of the Body for Life programme. If you're...well...from anywhere else in the world you probably won't have! The Body for Life programme has swept America and is a No.1 New York Times Bestseller.
Bill Phillips is the founder and editor in chief of Muscle Media magazine and the creator of EAS (Experimental and Applied Sciences). Body for Life claims "12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength".
To summarise: The plan is aimed at both men and women who want to lose weight (FAT specially), increase muscle tone, lose inches and generally look good. The front and back covers of the book show before and after shots of people who have followed the plan and drastically changed their body shape - and, in most cases, in only 12 weeks.
The plan consists of six days of exercise - weight lifting alternating with cardiovascular exercise and recommends eating six small meals a day. Regarding weight lifting a specific regime is suggested that involves focussing on either upper or lower body conditioning. You don't do both in one session. The aim is to increase the weight you lift to a specific number of reps. (It all becomes clear in the book and is spelt out very clearly). On the days you're not doing weight lifting you do 20 minutes of cardiovascular but increase the intensity of the exercise as you work through the 20 minutes.
The book spells out the portion size and the kind of food you should be eating during your six meals. There has been some controvery over the fact that it is suggested that two of the meals you have are EAS protein shakes (made by one of Bill's companies) but it does say that you don't have to - you can have a regular meal instead but many people have the supplement instead as it is quick and easy and means they don't have to prepare six meals a day.
On the seventh day you have a 'free day' - you don't have to exercise and you can eat whatever you like.
While we think there are many valid points in this book - such as the fact that the emphasis is on building muscle (which increases your metabolism), doing cardiovascular exercise and eating a balanced diet it would be quite difficult for a vegetarian to get a lot of variation in their 12 weeks - particularly as each of the six meals includes a portion of carbohydrate and a portion of protein.
We bought a copy of the book that is rocking America and here's our review:
Book Review:
First off - here's a run down of what the book includes (click on the links to get directly to those chapters or keep scrolling down):
Acknowledgments
Preface: Real-World Proof
Foreward: The Promise
Part I: The Breakthrough
Part II: Crossing the Abyss
Part III: Separating Myth from Fact
Part IV: The Training-for-LIFE Experience
Part V: The Eating-for-LIFE Method
Part VI: Staying on Course
Afterword: The Gateway
Appendixes:
Basically a couple of pages of acknowledgements!
A before and after section which shows pictures of a man who followed the programme - Porter Freeman and tells how he lost 54 pounds in 12 weeks, reduced his waist line from 42 inches to 36 inches and gained muscle.
In this section Bill promises that you can make "an extraordinary physique transformation by investing less than 5 percent of the time available to you each day". And "..it doesn't matter if you're 22 or 62, man or woman, fit or unfit. No matter who you are, this much I promise: You do have the power to change."
This section gives a background to how Bill Phillips came up with the Body for Life programme, tells the tale of Lynn Lingenfelter's - an HIV positive man - followd the programme and found a new lease of life, the tale of Danielle Coddinton, a 33 year old mother of two who lost 21 pounds of fat in 12 weeks and the tale of a couple - Fred and Renee Scurti who followed the programme together.
This section is about the psychological ways you can prepare to put your old, fat, lazy life before you and get into the right frame of mind for the programme. It incudes focussing on your future vision, identifying your reasons to change and identifying new patterns of action that will help you reach your goals.
Part III: Separating Myth from Fact
This section dispels commonly held myths such as "Aerobics is better for shaping up than weight training","If you exercise, it doesn't matter what you eat" and "If women lift weights, they'll get 'bulky'".
There are quite a lot of myths and this section explores quite a lot of them.
Part IV: The Training for Life Experience
This is where the plan is truely explained - the weight lifting and cardio part of the plan anyway (the food part of the plan comes next). The section includes details of The High Point Technique™ and the 20 Minute Aerobics Solution™ and includes useful graphs to aid explanation. There is also a copy of the Daily Progress Report sheet where you fill in the weights you do in each session, the level of intensity you reach and the heaviness of the weights you lift (there is also a Daily Progress Report sheet for cardio). You can download unfilled copies of these sheets from the Body for Life site.
Part V: The Eating for Life Experience
This section details the food that you should be eating during the Body for Life 12 week programme. It suggests quality proteins, quality carbohydrates, vegetables and healthy fats, suggests possible menus and explains what a portion size is. There is also a Daily Progress Report that is filled out so you get an idea how often you should eat and what sort of thing (again, you can download a blank copy from the Body for Life website).
Another section that focusses on the mental aspect of the programme rather than the physical. It includes sub sections such as "Transform Adversity Into Energy", "Harness the Power of Positive Pressure" and "Focus on Progress, Not Perfection".
This section is kind of a kick up the bum to motivate you!
Appendix A is a frequently asked questions section. Appendix B clarifies Terms and Jargon. Appendix C is an Exercise guide and shows photos of how to perform the weight lifting correctly (incidentally ALL the exercises you can do with free weights - you don't have to use the machines at the gym) and how to do abdominal crunches effectively. Appendix D are blank copies of the progress reports (photocopy them if you don't have access to the downloadable versions on the web). Appendix E is 12 pages of before and after pics and the stories of Success Stories.
Overall verdict: ***
If you look at the example pictures of the success stories in this book there is NO DOUBT that following the 12 week Body for Life programme has amazing effects on your body. More importantly than the weight you lose you gain a tight, firm, strong body. However, we feel this isn't a body changing programme that you can take or leave each day. It IS important to eat six small meals a day and you have to exercise - HARD - six days a week. That said..if you have the determination you can make significant changes to your body shape in just 12 weeks.
We give the book 3 out of 5 stars.
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