I would like to hear your opinion on the Body for Life program. Both the nutrional aspect and fitness aspect. Also do you believe supplements are necessary to achieve some of the looks of the Champions in the Body for Life book?

First off, I think that any program that can get people to exercise consistently is a good program. While I don't feel the Body for Life programs are as good as they could be from a physiological perspective, they are “packaged” into an overall program that has been quite successful for many people. This package of course includes the contest and the supplements. I would also venture to say that the people who are winning the EAS Challenge probably aren't using the basic Body for Life exercise program. If you have seen the Body for Life video some of those people were lifting weights up to 6 times per week in addition to 5 days per week of cardio. The Body for Life program recommends 3 days of lifting with minimal periodization or variation in the volume and intensity on a weekly basis and 3 days of cardio. This is great but to get into the type of shape these people were getting into you will have to work harder than this.

To answer your other question as to whether or not one would need to take supplements in order to achieve the look of the Body for Life Champions I would say, yes. But, let me explain myself.

In order to really change the way you look you have to be incredibly strict. And, by changing the way you look I am not simply talking about losing 40 pounds. This is a monumental feat but it still doesn’t mean that you are going to look the way the EAS Champions looked in their “after” photos. These people were ripped. Getting ripped means having a very low percentage of bodyfat. For guys, this is around 5 percent and for women it is around 12 percent. It is very hard to do this and the supplements can help in ways other then just their nutritional superiority. Now, back to the strict part.

Being strict means not only training incredibly hard but eating perfectly as well. This means taking in food with a high quality protein source up to 6-8 times per day. This is just the first hurdle that supplements can help you get over and it’s called the convenience factor. It is very difficult to prepare and carry around enough high quality food in Tupperware containers in order to eat 6-8 times per day. This is especially true when you have to go to work and other professional functions when you can’t just say, “Excuse me, I have to eat a chicken breast right now!” There are numerous drinks (meal replacements) and protein bars that can be carried very easily and eaten or drank in less than a minute. This helps to keep you on this strict diet to achieve that incredibly lean and muscular look.

Another huge hurdle that supplements can help you get over today that they couldn’t do even 10 years ago is to improve your bodies recovery abilities enough to dramatically increase the speed at which muscle tissue is developed. The big part, and really the only part, of why these people looked so good is because once they lost a large portion of their body fat they had some great muscle underneath that was developed over the 12 or so weeks of intense training. Supplements like creatine, glutamine and HMB simply enhance the rate at which muscle tissue is developed. These supplements have proven themselves effective in quality research studies with zero, yes zero, side effects. Just type in the word “creatine monohydrate” in a medical search engine some time and take a look at what comes up! Human beings are human beings and if they can achieve something in half the time it makes it much more “do-able”. Supplements are a big help in this area.

I won’t even get into the whole anti-oxidant protection thing and the various health benefits of taking vitamins and minerals. This information has been around for decades now and even the government is touting the positives of taking quality vitamins and minerals. For most of us the convenience factor and time factor are enough to warrant the use of supplements. And, if you are trying to change your body like the EAS people did they are vital!