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SUPERHERO
SHREDDING 2.0
2 superhero shredding 2.0
DISCLAIMER
Copyright Notice
This information is for your personal use ONLY. No part of this site and/or any of its
properties may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or
retrieval system without expressed written, dated and signed permission from the
author. All copyrights are reserved.
Disclaimer/Legal
Disclaimer/Legal Notice
The information provided in this book is for educational purposes only. I am not a
doctor and this is not meant to be taken as medical advice. The information provided
in this book is based
base d upon my experiences as well as my interpretations of the current
research available. The advice and tips given in this course are meant for healthy adults
only.
You
You should consult your physician to insure the tips given in this course are appropriate
for your individual circumstances. If you have any health issues or pre-existing
conditions, please consult with your physician before implementing any of the
information provided
provided in this course.
This product is for informational purposes only and the author does not accept any
responsibilities for any liabilities or damages, real or perceived, resulting from the use
of this information.
2 superhero shredding 2.0
DISCLAIMER
Copyright Notice
This information is for your personal use ONLY. No part of this site and/or any of its
properties may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or
retrieval system without expressed written, dated and signed permission from the
author. All copyrights are reserved.
Disclaimer/Legal
Disclaimer/Legal Notice
The information provided in this book is for educational purposes only. I am not a
doctor and this is not meant to be taken as medical advice. The information provided
in this book is based
base d upon my experiences as well as my interpretations of the current
research available. The advice and tips given in this course are meant for healthy adults
only.
You
You should consult your physician to insure the tips given in this course are appropriate
for your individual circumstances. If you have any health issues or pre-existing
conditions, please consult with your physician before implementing any of the
information provided
provided in this course.
This product is for informational purposes only and the author does not accept any
responsibilities for any liabilities or damages, real or perceived, resulting from the use
of this information.
superhero shredding 2.0 3
ABOUT KEITH LAI
Keith Lai is the founder of FitMole, a fitness brand that believes life
should be more about eating doughnuts and drinking whiskey and
less about being an obsessive fitness freak who only cares about
getting a six pack and going to the gym.
All his workout, diet, and fitness strategies are based on a philosophy
called the Non-Fitness Lifestyle which promotes the belief of using
fitness to enhance your life, not control it.
CONTENTS
54 SUPPLEMENTS: WHAT
ACTUALLY WORKS?
86 OVERVIEW OF SUPERHERO
SHREDDING WORKOUT
89 PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD:
124 THE UNDISPUTED LAW OF
TRAINING
WRAPPING UP
92 BREAKING DOWN THE
DIFFERENT TRAINING STYLES
getting started
LESSON 1
S
o you wanna know the secret? The secret to building slabs or rock hard muscle
and shedding that nasty body fat that makes you hate life? The secret to getting
that lean and muscular superhero body that you see in movies?
Well you’re not going to find it here. Wanna know why? Because there is no fucking secret.
“This ancient Chinese secret has recently unlocked a new hormone in the human body that
allows you to burn 44.56% more fat and build 82.95% more lean muscle mass.:
The fitness business is a very slimy and nasty place filled with blood sucking scam artists.
You can’t make billions of dollars selling “eat less, move more.”
SUPERHERO
SHREDDING
CHANGES
ALL OF THAT
O
f course, while there is a massive amount
– NO MORE of truth to the whole “eat less, move
BULLSHIT more” statement, it’s still a very crude
oversimplification of how to get in shape.
But put in the work, and even if you only get like 80-
90% of it right, I can guarantee you’ll get results beyond
your wildest dreams.
LESSON 2
I
’m going be brutally honest with you on type of results you can expect to get with
Superhero Shredding.
First off, there will be no 30-day magic transformation where the dude gains 10 pounds
of muscle and loses 15 pounds of fat in a month.
Unfortunately, the fitness industry does nothing these days but promote “quick fix” solu-
tions.
You’re just not going to see game-changing, life altering results in 30 days unless you’re try-
ing to lose those last 2-3 pounds, which I’m guessing the majority of you aren’t trying to do.
But here are the long-term results you can expect to see with Superhero Shredding based
on your starting point and experience level:
getting started | what results 9
A
s a complete beginner, I’m going to make the assumption that you have no prior
or very little experience with lifting weights.
And if you’re one of those guys casually lifting “on and off” over the years, you’re
still a beginner.
If you haven’t seen any serious strength gains and haven’t gained at least your first 15-25
pounds of muscle, then you are still a beginner.
• If you’re a beginner trying to lose weight, your first instinct will probably be to measure
your results by the scale. And if the scale drops, you think you’re seeing results. This is a
very dangerous way to measure results.
• While the scale is important, beginners trying to lose weight tend to build muscle at the
same which can result in the scale not going down at all. This is because the stimulus of
weight lifting is so new that it shocks the body into building lean muscle tissue.
• So for example, even if you lose 2 pounds of fat, you might gain 2 pounds of lean muscle
mass and the scale might not even change. But I can guarantee you’ll look better in the
mirror.
• So bottom line – the scale is important, but especially for beginners, it is not an accurate
way to measure progress.
In the next lesson, I’ll go over the best ways to measure progress. Be sure to go through it.
I
f you’re a beginner focused on building muscle, obviously I’m going to assume that you’re
a skinny guy.
You shouldn’t be overweight and trying to build muscle. Focus on losing weight first (and
hey, you’ll most likely build some muscle in the progress).
But as a skinny dude focused on building muscle, you should expect to gain about 0.5
pounds of lean muscle mass per week.
10 getting started | what results
Of course there are factors like genetics that determine the rate and overall amount of
muscle you’ll be able to eventually build but approximately 0.5 pound per week is the
general average.
Now you’re probably thinking, 0.5 pounds per week? That’s nothing.
Well understand that most advanced lifters are considered lucky if they can put on 0.5
pounds of muscle in a 1-2 months.
As a beginner, you’ll never gain strength and muscle faster than you will right now so enjoy
it.
So for example, take a 150 pound male. In his first 6 months of training, he will likely gain
12-15 pounds of muscle mass. And trust me, 12-15 pounds makes a HUGE difference in your
physique.
And after a year, you’ll have put on close to 30 pounds, that’s game changing!
A
h, skinny fat people.
You’re not necessarily necessarily fat but you’re not a skinny twig either. You likely have a
very pudgy stomach, and maybe some man boob-like things on an otherwise skinny frame.
When skinny fat guys focus on eating more high quality calories, lift heavy and get stronger,
they tend to lose fat and build muscle at the same time resulting in a body recomposition
effect.
So just like the situtation above where the beginner is trying to lose weight, the scale is not
a very accurate way of measurement here since you’ll be losing body fat and building lean
muscle mass at the same time.
Check out the next lesson on the best ways to measure progress.
getting started | what results 11
A
Alright so you’re no longer a beginner.
And if you’re an intermediate trying to lose fat, then you already have a solid base of muscle.
This means you will not be building muscle and losing fat at the same like a beginner would.
Instead, you should focus exclusively on dropping body fat while maintaining your current
levels of muscle mass. If for some reason you do gain some muscle, just consider it a bonus.
Someone focused exclusively on fat loss, should expect to lose about 1 pound per week.
When you’re first starting out, you tend to lose weight faster (it’s not uncommon to lose up
to 5 pounds in the first week).
The more weight you have to lose, the more weight you will lose in the first week. But this
is largely water weight.
After the initial week, expect weight loss to taper off to about 1 pound per week. And once
you get down to your last 5-10 pounds, expect weight loss to slow down even more to
around 0.5 pounds per week.
A
s an intermediate, your ability to build muscle fast dramatically decreases.
After a year, you should expect to gain about 1-1.5 pounds of muscle per month
(0.25-0.375 pounds per week).
Again, some of you might be freaking out about how low this amount if but how can you
expect muscle growth to not slow down?
12 getting started | what results
If everyone kept on gaining 0.5 pounds per week, then dudes who have been training for
10+ years would have put on 200+ pounds of muscle which is just not possible, even with
steroids.
Lesson Recap
So let’s recap this lesson:
“
IF YOU’RE NOT
TRACKING,
YOU’RE JUST
GUESSING.“
LESSON 3
T
racking is an absolute must when it comes to losing weight or
building muscle.
Below, I’ve outlined the 5 best ways to measure your progress when doing
Superhero Shredding and exactly how to do it.
Let’s just get this out of the way since it’s by far the most popular measure-
ment method.
The scale is great but way too many get attached to the scale and what-
ever number shows up.
Problem #1 – Scale weight is heavily influenced by water weight so your weight can fluctu-
ate like crazy on a daily and even weekly basis. So on days you eat a ton of sodium or carbs,
you’ll likely see a large spike in water weight which can really mess you, emotionally if you
tie yourself too closely to the scale.
Remember, the scale just measures bodyweight which includes everything – muscle, fat,
bone, organs, water, even the clothes you wear.
Problem #2 – Like I mentioned in the previous lesson, beginners who are either trying to
lose weight or are skinny fat have a tendency to lose fat and build muscle at the same time.
So they could, in theory, lose 10 pounds of fat and gain 10 pounds of muscle, therefore not
affecting the scale weight at all. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll look 10x better in the mirror but
the scale weight itself might not change much.
The scale does work relatively well for intermediates looking to lose fat. Since at this point,
you won’t be building muscle anymore and the weight should be steadily dropping. And
an intermediate looking to lose 20 pounds should be 20 pounds lighter at the end of his
journey.
Again this is why the scale is just one method of tracking progress.
Here are the body parts I recommend taking weekly measurements of:
Note 1: Obviously take off your clothes when measuring and make sure to use soft (not
hard) measuring tape so you can easily wrap it around your body.
Note 2: These measurements should be taken in the same state as you weigh yourself (after
you wake up, after you take a piss, and before eating/drinking anything).
getting started | how to track 15
If your focus is to lose weight, your waist measurement should go down as all other mea-
surements remain the same.
And if you’re a beginner, then you might also see increases in your shoulders, chest, legs,
and arms at the same time your waist goes down.
If your focus is to build muscle, your shoulders, chest, legs, and arms should be getting big-
ger while your waist remains relatively the same to ensure you’re building muscle, not fat.
Also make sure you don’t purposefully flex (except when measuring arms) or suck anything
in when taking the tape measurements.
Body fat measurements are great, whether it’s via calipers, DEXA scans, or hydrostatic
weighing but there’s always going to be a margin of error when it comes to measuring your
body fat.
I’ve had clients that used DEXA to measure their body fat but when they measured them-
selves, the DEXA scan said they lost 10% muscle mass when in fact, but the tape measure-
ments and the mirror said otherwise.
So definitely don’t use body fat measurements as your main method of tracking progress.
If you want to measure body fat, I recommend calipers since they’re the easiest to use and
most convenient.
And as a general guideline, if your caliper measurements are going down and tape mea-
surements (chest, shoulders, legs, arms) remain the same, then you’re definitely losing body
fat, not muscle.
This is one of the most underrated but effective ways to track progress.
Building muscle is built on the law of progressive overload, meaning that you need to get
progressively stronger over time (either in the form of adding weight or increasing the num-
ber of reps) and as long as you’re getting stronger, you’ll be able to build new muscle tissue
since your body needs to adapt to the new load you’re moving.
16 getting started | how to track
For fat loss, you should focus on maintaining your levels of strength since maintaining your
strength is generally a good indicator that you’re maintaining your current level of muscle
mass. If you’re dieting and you find yourself losing strength on a weekly basis, then I guar-
antee you’re losing muscle mass.
Make sure you’re gaining strength if you’re trying to build muscle and maintaining your cur-
rent level of strength if you’re trying to lose fat.
They can lose fat and build muscle at the same time.
And this means they can gain strength consistently even when
they’re trying to lose weight.
But once you hit that intermediate level, you will no longer be able
to consistently get stronger while losing weight, and your #1 job is
to just maintain what already have.
There is no better way of seeing results than with your own eyes.
This is why the mirror and just analyzing your own body works so well.
And nothing feels better in the world than taking 10-20 progress pics and seeing yourself
transform over a few months.
So take progress pics 1-2x per week (front, back, side of body) and you’ll have one of the
most efficient ways of tracking your progress.
getting started | how to track 17
Lesson Recap
So let’s recap this lesson:
• There are 5 main ways of measuring progress: Scale weight, tape measurements,
body fat measurements, strength levels, progress pics (the mirror).
• The scale is just a number and can be heavily affected by water weight. It can
even barely change at all if you lose fat and build muscle at the same time.
• Tape measurements are an accurate way to see which body parts are gaining
muscle and to see if you’re only losing fat.
• Body fat measurement methods can have a high margin of error but are still
worth keeping an eye on.
• The mirror don’t lie. Take progress pics 1-2x per week.
• Take all measurements in a fasted state when you wake up in the morning,
after you take a piss, and before eating/drinking anything.
18 superhero shredding 2.0
superhero mindset
LESSON 1
S
eriously, failure sucks.
FAILURE.
People who hit the gym 5x per week the first week of
January, all of a sudden just stop going.
20 superhero mindset | there’s a 99%
FAILURE IS
GETTING
SHOT BY
� ARROWS
O
bviously I’m talking metaphorical arrows, because otherwise you’d be like…dead.
But every time you fail (whether it’s fitness, relationships, business, whatever…),
you get shot by 2 arrows.
I actually got this idea from one of my favorite authors, James Altucher.
BUT LISTEN� FAILURE IS ACTUALLY TWO ARROWS. THE FIRST ARROW IS THE FAILURE ITSELF. THAT FIRST
ARROW IS A HORRIBLE IMPACT. KNOCKS YOU DOWN. KNOCKS THE BREATH OUT OF YOU. MAKES YOU
BLEED. BUT THAT ARROW WON’T KILL YOU. THE SECOND ARROW IS HOW YOU REACT TO THE FAILURE.
THAT ARROW WILL BLIND YOU, INFECT YOU, AND EVENTUALLY KILL YOU.
ARROW #1
It’s when you decide to binge eat 5000 calories just because you felt guilty about overeat-
ing 100 calories.
It’s when you decide to skip the entire week’s worth of workouts just because you missed
the first day.
Arrow #1 sucks and you might feel depressed for days or even weeks.
It’s all part of the process but what truly matters is how you react when you get shot by
arrow #2.
superhero mindset | there’s a 99% 21
ARROW #2
Okay, so you had a slip up and binged eat on 5000 calories worth of doughnuts and double
stuffed Oreos? Big fucking deal.
That isolated event is NEVER going to be what determines your end result.
Will it set you back a few days? Probably, but a few days is absolutely nothing compared
to your end goal.
When people email me saying how they feel like a failure because they binged eat, I always
just want to slap them in the face.
It’s all about how they let that one event determine the
rest of their journey.
DON’T VIEW
FAILURE AS A
BAD THING
M
ost people view failure as a bad thing.
I view it as an opportunity.
I don’t know a single person who starts from absolute zero and
builds a shredded physique without a single screw up.
And yes, even with the workout and dieting systems I give you with
Superhero Shredding, you’ll most likely screw up at least 1-2 times
along the way.
I’m not one of those gurus that say my system is 100% bulletproof.
And please don’t be one of those ignorant assholes that say “I never
fail.” No motherfucker, you will fail.
It’s how you react to that failure (Arrow #2) that determines where
you’ll end up 6-12 months from now.
Lesson Recap
• There’s a 99% chance you’re going to fail any
fitness program no matter how well-designed
it is. So expect failure sooner rather than later.
LESSON 2
I
know all of you bought Superhero Shredding because you want to lose fat, build muscle,
and get into badass shape.
It’s not like you all bought it because you think I’m super good looking.
Well first off, there are 2 types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic and really understanding
these 2 is the first key to getting your shit together.
T
he first type of motivation is intrinsic motivation.
“Intrinsic motivation occurs when we act without any obvious external rewards. We simply
enjoy an activity or see it as an opportunity to explore, learn, and actualize our potentials. ”
When it comes to fitness, that means you workout and watch your diet because you’re
doing it for yourself. You do it because you enjoy the process training, eating right, and see-
ing yourself improve.
Literally every single guy I know who’s in amazing shape doesn’t train their ass off for years
because they’re after LIKES on Facebook or Instagram. They don’t do it because they want
to get laid.
People who are extrinsically motivated only care about the end goal (e.g. I need to lose 10
pounds).
Or they only care about the “rewards” they might get by reaching their goals (e.g. I want to
get a six pack because I want to fuck models.)
Even Hollywood actors are, for the most part, extrinsically motivated. They take 6 months
to get in great shape for a movie because it’s literally their job but afterwards become out
of shape again.
Now you’re probably reading this and thinking that extrinsic motiva- Extrinsic
tion is the worst thing in the world.
motivation
That’s actually not true. isn’t bad, it
While being intrinsically motivated is an absolute must if you want just can’t
to build and maintain a superhero body, I believe the best form of
motivation is a combination of both.
be your
end goal
I love the feeling that I have some pretty impressive strength numbers.
It would be very hard for me to continue training for the past 10 years
if it meant I had to look like a fat slob.
Lesson Recap
• There are 2 main forms of motivation: Intrinsic
and extrinsic
W
hy do you want this?
WHY� DIG And why isn’t just so you can lose weight and
And the faster you can find, accept, and fully your “WHY,” the more likely you’ll get and
maintain your results.
This is where you need to peel back the onion layers (which I stole from that one scene in
Shrek).
The 3 onion layers are used to drill down to REAL reason you want this.
For example, ask someone why they want to lose weight and here’s what the 3 layers might
look like:
Layer 2 = “The doctor said if I don’t, I will develop Type 2 diabetes.”
Layer 3 = “I want to set a good example for my son and never want to see him in my posi-
tion.”
It’s what you use to motivate yourself on the days you don’t feel like training or feel like
binge eating.
Because you will have your bad days and when you do, you need to remind yourself of
your “WHY.”
superhero mindset | find your why 27
For example, if you train because you want a body like Chris Evans. That’s great.
That’s extrinsic motivation. But what happens when you’re at the same level as Evans?
Chances are you’re not going to be comparing yourself to Evans 3-5 years from now.
No, at this point, you really need to shift to a more intrinsic goals of enjoying the process
of continuing to train and eat right. That’s really the only way to maintain long term results.
Lesson Recap
There’s ALWAYS Let’s recap this lesson:
a very deep,
emotional for why • You need to find your WHY, your big reason for
anyone wants why you want to reach your fitness goals.
to do anything
• Peel back the “onion layers” to find that deep
fitness/health emotional WHY. Most WHYs are typically 3
related. layers deep.
28 superhero mindset | trust the process
LESSON 4
FUCKING DO IT
I
will outline the entire Superhero Shredding workout and diet in upcoming lessons but
before I do so I need to tell you one thing – trust the process.
A lot of people like to ask the question, “What if this doesn’t work?”
I can personally guarantee you that Superhero Shredding works, if you just follow the plan.
If you want to boil down the process of fat loss down to its simplest terms, it’s “eat
less than you burn.”
If you want to boil down the process of building muscle down to its simplest terms,
it’s “get stronger and eat more than you burn.”
Things like protein & carb manipulation and hormones matter, just not nearly as
much as people like to think.
If you can’t get the basics down, you won’t get anywhere with this program.
If you follow the diet and workout as laid out in Superhero Shredding, you will get
the results you desire.
I find that the people who fail are those who constantly question the process.
superhero mindset | trust the process 29
Lesson Recap
• Trust the process of training and dieting.
LESSON 1
T
hanks to the media, there’s this belief people have that you need to be
super strict and hardcore with your diet in order to see results.
Every time a celebrity gets ripped for a movie role whether it’s Daniel Craig
for 007, Henry Cavill for Superman, or Chris Pratt for Guardians of the
Galaxy, every single news site publishes thousands of articles talking about
how hardcore these actors with their diet.
“Oh Henry Cavill ate 5000 calories and 8 meals per day.”
“Chris Pratt didn’t drink any alcohol and gave up sugar for 6 months.”
Your mom who said sugar causes cancer is wrong (sorry, mom).
32 diet & nutrition | why everything 32
| DO YOU REALLY
THINK IT’S A
GOOD IDEA TO
COMPLETELY
ELIMINATE
CUPCAKES FROM
YOUR DIET AND
LIFE JUST SO
YOU CAN LOSE
WEIGHT?
Celebrities, bodybuilders, and fitness models all fall into this trap.
They eat super super “healthy” for anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months and get into amaz-
ing shape.
Chris Pratt gave up beer for 6 months, lost a ton of weight, and got ripped for Guardians of
the Galaxy.
Good for him but do you really need to give up your favorite foods and drinks just to get
ripped?
For example, let’s say you want to lose weight and you fucking love cupcakes. They’re your
favorite thing in the whole wide world and make you happier than a 3 threesome with
Megan Fox and Scarlett Johansson.
Do you really think it’s a good idea to completely eliminate cupcakes from your diet and life
just so you can lose weight?
Hell no.
Obviously you can’t smash a dozen cupcakes per day like you used to but there’s absolutely
no reason why you can’t have one every day as a treat at the end of the day (assuming it’s
not a 800+ calorie cupcake).
A large part of Superhero Shredding is just mastering the art of being realistic and respon-
sible when it comes to the types of foods you eat.
That’s might not sound super sexy but it’s something you must absolutely critical if you
want to get AND MAINTAIN life long results.
diet & nutrition | why everything 33
Over the recent years, a lot of people have developed a hatred for the word “diet.”
Are you really going to start saying, “Yeah man, my lifestyle is going really well now.
I’m down 5 pounds.”
Of course we could just start using the phrase “food consumption protocol” but I
have a feeling that’s not going to catch on very well.
Bottom line – A diet is what it is, just don’t be afraid of the word. You’re chang-
ing the way you eat, embrace it. If it really does make you want to throw up
every time you say it, then use whatever fucking word you want (and maybe
see a therapist).
Let’s say you’re on a meal plan that has you eating 6x per day. Each meal cycles
between a carb source (rice, pasta, potatoes), some meat (chicken, steak), and
some sort of veggie.
That’s great but what happens if your buddies call you up and want to grab
some beer and chicken wings?
Option 1: Be the werido who brings his tupperware of rice and chicken to the
bar.
Option 3: Go out with your friends and end up binging on beer and chicken
wings, get drunk, and continue to munch on junk food the rest of the night.
Go out with your friends, have 1-2 beers, eat a reasonable amount of chicken
wings (enough to satisfy yourself but not so much to the point you want to
puke) and call it a day.
No bullshit, no drama.
Superhero Shredding wasn’t created so you have to under a rock eating the
same foods over and over.
It’s the designed to be the ultimate, flexible dieting system that lets you live
you life and build the superhero body of your dreams.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON 2
I
f you take any diet (seriously, ANY diet) in the world and break it down
to its core, you’ll find that it really only consists of 2 things:
• Calories
• Macronutrients (proteins, carbs, fats)
That’s it.
All this crazy carb cycling, low fat, paleo, blood type, 6 meals per day crazi-
ness that you hear about are all variations on the 2 things above.
In this section I’m going to give you what’s essentially the ultimate crash
course on nutrition and dieting.
36 diet & nutrition | calories: the most
U
nless you have some type of thyroid or hormonal disorder, then weight loss is a
matter of calories in, calories out.
If someone says weight loss is not about calories, then turn around and run.
For example, if you maintain your weight at 2500 calories per day, eating any less than that
for an extended period of time will result in weight loss.
Every diet out there, whether it’s low carb, paleo, south beach, 6 meals per day, intermit-
tent fasting…are various ways to help you create a calorie deficit.
To keep things nice and simple for you, you’re going to be using the following formula to
calculate your daily calorie intake to lose fat.
Using the formula below, you can expect to lose approximately 1-2 pounds of fat per week
depending on your current starting point.
As a general rule of thumb, the more weight you have to lose, the faster you’re going to
initially lose weight. So super heavy guys could potentially lose up to 5-10 pounds in one
week (75% will be water weight) while someone who’s already close to their goal weight
might only lose 0.5 pounds per week.
diet & nutrition | calories: the most 37
USE 11 IF… You are over the age of 45. Most older guys have a
slightly slower metabolism so I recommend them to use a 11x
multiplier. You can also use an 11x multiplier if you have a sub-
stantial amount of weight to lose but aren’t morbidly obese.
Keep in mind that this formula is just an estimate. It’s nearly impossible to create a “one size
fits all” calorie formula that takes into account the endless amount of potential variables
(body type, age, training background, eating habits, etc…)
So start with this formula as a general baseline, and if you aren’t losing weight after one
week, lower your calories by 200 per week until you do start losing weight.
Calories are just as important for building muscle as they are for losing fat.
However, like I said in the “what to expect” lesson, beginners can lose fat and build muscle
at the same time even when in a deficit.
The formula below is just for beginners who are skinny or skinny fat.
38 diet & nutrition | calories: the most
If you find yourself not gaining weight at all after a week, then
bump up calories by 200 per day.
Now, the above formula was for a beginner trying to build muscle. If you are an intermediate
(someone with 6-12 months of proper training), then use the formula below which involves
calorie cycling.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson on calories:
LESSON 3
A
ll calories are either made up of proteins, carbs, and/or fats.
For example, if you eat a grilled cheese sandwich, the majority of the macros are going to
be carbs and fats.
But if you eat piece of chicken, the majority of the macros will be protein.
While being in a calorie deficit is important for weight loss, the macronutrient breakdown
is just as important.
And I know what you’re thinking, “But Keith, if I simply need to be in a calorie deficit to lose
weight, why does it matter if what foods I eat?”
Well 2 things:
1. Use some common sense and your best judgement. If you’re in a calorie deficit but your
diet consists of nothing but doughnuts, candies, and cake, is that really good for your
health?
2. If you want to make sure that you only lose body fat and not your hard earned muscle
mass then you better make sure you get enough protein and your macros are optimized
(which I’ll show you how to do below).
41 diet & nutrition | breaking down 41
P
rotein is absolutely critical if you want to build muscle and it’s critical if you want to
maintain muscle while losing fat.
If that doesn’t excite you, then let me put in a simple way – if you want to build a
badass superhero body, then you need to be getting an adequate of protein in your diet.
If you’re anti-protein for whatever reason, then stop reading and I’ll refund your money.
There’s a reason why the protein powder market is so damn big. I mean, even fucking Mark
Wahlberg has his own protein powder line.
Without an adequate amount of protein, you simply won’t be able to build a lean and mus-
cular body.
If you try to build a substantial muscle on a low protein diet, it’s simply not going to work.
In my 8+ years of training, I’ve never seen it happen.
“But what about for fat loss? People lose weight all the time by juicing and going on low
calorie/low protein diets”
You can lose weight by doing fad diets like juicing but do me a favor and look at the end
result.
Look at any guy who follows a juicing or low protein diet. They might lose weight and look
skinnier but they don’t look great.
They don’t have broad shoulders, square pecs, and a V-shaped back.
They just look like skinny, smaller version of themselves which is great if you like looking
skinny and frail but that’s not what we’re after here.
42 diet & nutrition | breaking down 42
In typical bodybuilding circles, most guys will say you need anywhere
from 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day.
Even most celebrities take in about 1 gram of protein per pound of body-
weight.
I know so many fitness gurus and trainers pushing the “1 gram” rule but in
recent years I’ve discovered that the “1 gram rule” is actually not neces-
sary.
In fact, research has shown that you can build/maintain muscle just as
efficiently on as little as 0.6 grams of protein per day.
And yes, you use this formula for both losing fat and building muscle.
“
Fat clogs your arteries.”
Oh please.
Consuming an adequate amount of fat, especially saturated fat is absolutely critical for
maintaining healthy testosterone levels.
But while fat is important, you definitely don’t want to go overboard with it.
Fat is 9 calories per gram, while protein and carbs are 4 calories per gram, making it over 2x
as calorie dense.
This is why something like peanut butter has so many calories (100 calories for just 1 table-
spoon), because it’s almost all fat calories.
Daily fat intake = At least 20% of you total calories should come from fat
This range allows you maintain a healthy testosterone level while still
allowing you to enjoy many “fun” foods like ice cream and the occasional
slice of cake.
44 diet & nutrition | breaking down 44
The following foods are fantastic for hitting your fat numbers:
• Avacado
• Olive oil
• Coconut oil
• Nuts (almonds, pistachios, brazil nuts, etc…)
• Nut butters (peanut, almond, cashew, etc…)
• Bacon
• Fats found in meats
• Egg yolks
• Pretty much anything that comes from a natural source. For example, the fats that come
from potato chips and Twinkies are not “natural.”
Sigh…
Is it really still cool to hate on carbs? I mean, it was cool in the 90s with the popularity of
the Atkins and whatnot, but c’mon it’s 2015, guys.
And with diets like paleo becoming more and more popular every day, it’s even cooler now.
Do you really think big guys like Hugh Jackman and Dwayne Johnson got jacked by eating
nothing but apples and bags of lettuce?
Hell no!
To build muscle and get ripped, they ate mountains of rice and pasta.
Rice, pasta, quinoa, potatoes, yams, bread, oatmeal, these are all great, nutritious sources
of carbs.
In fact with Superhero Shredding, the majority of your daily calorie intake will be coming
from carbs.
The way it works is, after you determine your daily protein intake and allocate 20-30% of
your calories to fat, the rest of your calories will come from carbs.
“But carbs are the devil. They spike da insulin levels and make you store them as fat, even
45 diet & nutrition | breaking down 45
Well 2 things:
The reason most people think carbs are evil is because when people think of carbs, they
typically associate it with “junk foods” like cookies, cake, and chips.
Combine that with highly flawed and biased scientific studies and false reporting by the
media, and boom, you have the most hated macronutrient in the world.
But if people really think carbs are the sole cause for obesity, then explain how guys like
Mark Haub, who became infamous with his “Twinkie Diet,” eating nothing but Twinkies and
other junk foods.
Not saying you should eat nothing but Twinkies, but the Twinkie Diet provided undying
proof that carbs are not the enemy.
So let’s take a look at why carbs are so essential for building muscle, losing fat and building
a superhero body.
Carbs refill your muscle glycogen levels, the fuel used when you lift weights.
If you don’t get enough carbs, you won’t have enough muscle glycogen to train intensely
which leads to half-assed workouts that are a pain to get through.
This is one the main reason why guys who do juice fasts or low-carb type diets never have
a lot of muscle – because they simply don’t have the energy or power to lift heavy weights
in the gym.
Okay, not the most eloquently worded reason but you get my point.
Many people feel like crap when they’re on a low carb diet. Getting enough carbs in your
diet ensures healthy dopamine levels, which is the “feel good” hormone in your body.
As mentioned earlier, you can’t perform your best in the gym without enough carbs.
46 diet & nutrition | breaking down 46
It means less strength and weaker lifts which equals less muscle and a less sexy body.
And if you aren’t getting stronger in the gym on a consistent basis, how can you ever expect
to gain muscle.
Losing weight isn’t simply a matter of eliminating all carbs and surviving off boiled chicken
breast and lettuce for the rest of your life.
Shocking, I know.
Surprisingly, what I find with my clients is that those who eat more carbs while dieting lose
more fat, maintain their results longer, and are happier with their lives.
Why’s this?
There are many reason but I believe the main one to be psychological.
Because people hate them and think it’s all about cutting out your favorite foods.
Successful dieting is not about “eat this, not that,” it’s about flexibility and eating in con-
trolled amounts, but not permanently cutting out your favorite foods.
In the Superhero Shredding, you get to eat a very healthy amount of carbs (yes, even
doughnuts) which will make you happy.
And when you’re happy and actually eat foods you enjoy, dieting becomes 100x easier.
Once you hit your daily protein and fat intake, you just subtract that number from the rest
of your calories and that will be your carb intake.
47 diet & nutrition | breaking down 47
Calculating your Daily carb intake = total calories minus daily protein and
carb intake fat calories
I’m going to show you a method on the next page that’s going to make the process of track-
ing what you eat on a daily basis a piece of cake (no pun intended).
Remember how your mom always told you to eat your fruits and vegetables?
Fruits and veggies help you get you get your micronutrients (e.g. vitamin A, B, C)
Ideally you should be getting at least 3 servings of fruits AND vegetables per day, and feel
free to eat even more.
While the diet plan in Superhero Shredding is fairly unrestrictive, you can’t eat nothing but
pizza and doughnuts all day long.
Fruits and veggies provide essential micronutrients and fiber to keep you good health.
And there’s no point in having a great looking body if it costs you your health.
Some examples of fruits to eat include: apples, oranges, mango, bannas, strawberries,
blueberries, tomatoes (yes it’s a fruit).
Some examples of veggies to eat include: spinach, kale, bell peppers, carrots, onions.
What to do if you don’t have time to eat your fruits and veggies?
A lot of people don’t have the time to eat 3 servings of fruits and veggies per day and I get it.
If you find that you don’t have the time to eat enough fruits and veggies, here’s what you do.
• Throw in your daily intake of fruits and vegetables into the blender
• Drink the juice
Just mix all the fruits and veggies together and hit blend. Then drink it all 1-2x during the
day.
It might taste horrible but for people who are too lazy or find that they don’t have the time
to get fruits and veggies in their diet, this is a pretty sweet way to do so.
And no a greens powder is not a substitute for eating real fruits and veggies.
It’s good as an absolute last resort but it just doesn’t replace the real thing.
Lesson Recap
• Calories are made up of macronutrients
(macros) – proteins, carbs, fats.
LESSON 4
A
lright so in the last lesson I gave you a breakdown
of macronutrients and the formulas that tell you
how much of each macro you should be getting.
This means every single day, you need to hit the numbers above.
And as long as you hit these numbers, and eat reasonably
healthy foods, you’ll lose fat and build muscle.
In theory this might sound great, but it’s actually extremely hard
50 diet & nutrition | macro flex tracking
You’re always going to end up being a couple grams over or under certain macros.
Nothing is ever going to line up perfectly which can lead to a feeling of disappointed and
obsessive compulsiveness.
The traditional approach to tracking macros has led a lot of guys to become obsessed to
the point where all they do all day is play around with calculators and food tracking apps on
their phones.
Macro FLEX Tracking (MFT) takes the underlying concept of tracking macros and simplifies
it even further by telling you to focus primarily on overall calories and protein.
This means you will no longer be tracking carbs and fats down to the exact gram.
I can’t tell you how much easier this makes tracking shit and dieting.
You’ll still need to eyeball carbs and fats but you’ll no longer need to track the exact amounts
and make sure everything lines up at the end of the day.
Let me tell you, this is a game changer when it comes to tracking and dieting and that’s not
a word I like to use lightly.
This is hands down the most flexible approach to dieting I’ve found in all my years in the
fitness industry. When you use MFT, you’ll be able to go out to eat whenever you want, stop
stressing about food, and just enjoy massive amounts of freedom while building muscle,
losing fat, and getting ripped.
These are the only 2 numbers I require you to keep tabs on every day.
It’s really not too hard to do since it doesn’t require the balancing act of all 3 macros.
diet & nutrition | macro flex tracking 51
I chose these 2 because calories are the determining factor behind whether you lose or gain
weight.
And protein is the main macro that determines whether you gain, lose, or maintain your
muscle mass.
Yes, I know the word “ballpark” is super vague but I think in this case, it’s pretty simple and
straightforward.
When it comes to macronutrient ratios, I always recommend a balance of protein, carbs, and
fats.
You simply can’t go too high, or too low in certain macros without experiencing some
negative backlash.
Go too low in carbs?You lose energy, performance in the gym suffers, and you feel like crap.
As long as you hit your protein numbers for the day and stay within your daily calories, you
can simply ballpark your fats and carbs to make sure you’re getting a decent balance of the
two.
The 80/20 rule basically states that 80% of that foods in your diet should come from whole
nutritious foods like meat, nuts, fruits, veggies, rice, potatoes, etc…
And the other 20% can come from whatever you want. This is where you’re allowed to have
some fun and be more flexible with your foods choices.
Maintaining your diet for the long haul is all about balance, and the 20% you get every day
gives you that level of freedom without ruining your results or health.
Track macros th e traditional way for 1-2 weeks before usin g MFT
This isn’t a requirement but if you have no idea what your daily diet looks like in terms of
calories and macros, I highly recommend you to track macros the traditional way for 1 week
52 diet & nutrition | macro flex tracking
I only say this because you need to establish a good baseline for the amount of protein,
carbs, and fats you’re going to eat.
I highly recommend you to buy a food scale and weigh out common foods that you eat
frequently such as potatoes, rice, pasta, chicken, beef, etc…
Weigh out what 100 grams of each food looks like just so you can get a good idea of what
portion sizes look like so when you do start ballparking your intake with MFT, you’ll have an
idea of how much you’re eating.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON 5
THE IMPORTANCE OF
DYNAMICALLY ADJUSTING
YOUR CALORIES
A
big mistake I see people
make when tracking calories
is that they don’t dynamically
adjust their calories as their
weight changes.
LESSON 6
SUPPLEMENTS:
WHAT ACTUALLY
WORKS?
S
upplements are a multibillion dollar industry so of course everyone is pushing
them.
But the reality is, most supplements provide little to no value for the majority
of people.
You have to realize that supplements are just that – something to “supplement” your
existing workout and diet regime. They aren’t meant to replace your diet or workouts
(despite what some companies might be saying).
However there are a small handful of supplements (and I literally mean a small handful,
I can count them on one hand) that might benefit people.
In no way do you need these supplements to see results but they can definitely help
in certain situations.
diet & nutrition | supplements 55
Protein powder
I
f you have trouble getting the minimum of 0.8 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight
required in Superhero Shredding, then a high quality protein powder is your new best
friend.
It’s the easiest thing in the world – just take 2-3 scoops per day after a workout, chug it, and
you’re already at 50-80 grams of protein for the day.
Just make sure it’s 100% whey protein. It has one of the best amino acid profiles and digests
the fastest. Do not buy weight gainers or any other mixes. Whey protein is all you need.
• MTS Whey
• ON Gold Standard Whey
• Smart Powders
• Scivation Whey
If you can’t stomach whey, then I recommend a combination of rice and pea protein to
replicate the amino acid profile of whey protein.
Now understand, creatine monohydrate doesn’t directly help you build more lean muscle
tissue.
How it works is that it draws more water into your muscles which give you a boost in energy
and strength in the gym, allowing you to push heavier weights.
So creatine monohydrate doesn’t magically synthesize new muscle tissue. It helps you get
stronger and it’s from that strength increase that you gain more muscle tissue.
So basically:
You take creatine -> You get stronger because you take creatine -> You gain lean muscle
over time because you’re getting stronger
Make sense?
There are decades of research to backup the effectiveness of creatine monohydrate.
56 diet & nutrition | supplements
Just make sure you buy 100% creatine monohydrate. The brand doesn’t even matter too
much.
Take 5 grams per day. When and how you take it doesn’t matter.
Maybe. I don’t know. The only way to know is by trying it out yourself.
If you see a noticeable difference in your gym performance and feel better, then keep taking
it. If not, you don’t need to take one.
Here are a few great pre workout supplements I’ve used and recommend:
• C4
• Totalis
And if you don’t want to shell out $30+ bucks for a preworkout, then I recommend giving
coffee or caffeine pills a shot.
A 100 pill bottle will run you about $3-5. Start off at 200mg before your workout. If you still
don’t feel anything I recommend increasing it by 50mg at a time.
Fish oil
Fish oil is great.
Most western diets tend to have too much omega 6 fatty acids and we need more omega
3s in our diet to balance it all out.
You can also get the necessary omega 3s by eating fatty fish like salmon a couple times per
week.
Aim for 2 grams EPA and 1.5 grams DHA per day.
I like the brand Nordic Naturals but other brands are fine as long as you hit the EPA/DHA
recommendations above
Multivitamin
This is one supplement that I was really hesitant to put on the list.
The reason being, if you eat a decently well-rounded diet, get your fruits and veggies,
and follow the 80% rule of eating whole unprocessed foods, then a multivitamin is largely
unnecessary.
For a lot of people a multivitamin is more of a “feel good” supplement than anything else.
But don’t be like “Oh I ate like absolute shit today but it’s all good because I took a multi-
vitamin.”
Um…no.
A multivitamin isn’t a magical “erase all the bad shit I ate” pill.
It’s a pill to simply cover any potential vitamin and mineral deficiencies that you may have.
So I would just buy a bottle and keep it around “just in case…” for the days that you know
you didn’t eat a ton of nutritionally dense foods, take a multivitamin.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON 7
ALCOHOL AND
FITNESS� HOW TO GET
WASTED WITHOUT RUINING
YOUR RESULTS
T
his is for all the alcoholics who bought Superhero Shredding.
Just kidding.
But a lot of people worry that they will never be able to party or drink again once they start
training and dieting but that’s just not true.
There are a few “rules” you need to follow when it comes to alcohol, but they are super easy
to follow once you understand them.
But you need to understand that having a “beer belly” is almost never even directly caused
by drinking beer.
A real beer belly = Drink a few beers + eat a bunch of shitty food while drinking
I don’t think there’s a single guy in the world who’s overweight just because he drinks a lot.
If you just drink and get hammered every night, but don’t eat, you’ll probably be at normal
(or even under normal) bodyweight.
Blame the mixed nuts, pretzels, chips, burgers, pizza, doughnuts, burritos, and crappy bar
food you eat while you’re drinking.
I think 5 drinks during weekdays alone is plenty and it’s pretty damn generous considering
your end goal – a shredded superhero physique.
If you’re complaining at that, then well…maybe you need to stop doing shit that involves
drinking all the time.
SO DON’T
BLAME
THE BEER
BECAUSE
YOU’RE
OVER�
WEIGHT.
60 diet & nutrition | alcohol and fitness
The Project X rule, named after the overhyped and not so great 2012 movie is for those that
want to essentially drink as much as they want for one day and still lose weight and maintain
muscle mass.
• Use this method extremely sparingly. I recommend no more than ever 4-6
weeks. There really are no benefits to drinking this much (unless it gets you laid,
I guess).
• Use this method extremely sparingly. I recommend no more than ever 4-6
weeks. There really are no benefits to drinking this much (unless it gets you laid,
I guess).
• On the day you drink, you will be eating a high protein, low carb, low fat diet.
You can eat as much protein as you want (no need to count calories) but aim for
a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. This will help prevent
muscle loss. Foods to eat include skinless white meat chicken, beef jerky, low
fat cottage cheese, whey protein, and egg whites. Pretty much anything high in
protein and low in carbs and fats is fine. You will find that this really limits you to
foods similar to the ones I just described.
• Eat 2-4 servings of fruits and veggies. Stick with high water content fruits like
apples and oranges.
• Don’t eat while drinking unless it’s high protein, low carb and low fat foods.
• Only use zero calorie mixers. You can pretty much drink as much as you want
but don’t use and mixers with sugar or calories like Red bull or soda. Diet soda,
Red Bull Zero, and club soda is fine.
• Drink water. Seriously. This isn’t so much to help you lose weight as it is so you
don’t feel like absolute shit the next day.
diet & nutrition | alcohol and fitness 61
If you stick with the guidelines above, you can drink as much as you want and you’ll still
lose weight.
Without the carbs and fat, your body really can’t synthesis fat cells from just the alcohol.
Hell, a lot of people even lose a ton of water weight after a night of heavy drinking since the
alcohol helps produce a “woosh” effect and rids the body of a lot of water weight.
So the following morning, you might looked more ripped than ever.
I should note that your workout the following day (if you have one) is probably going to
suck ass.
So try not to schedule a workout for the following day although I find some low-medium
intensity cardio does help.
Happy drinking.
Disclaimer: I’m not responsible for any of the stupid shit that happens when you drink.
Drunk? Call Uber.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON 8
MEAL FREQUENCY
AND INTERMITTENT
FASTING
A
fter you get all the calorie and macro stuff sorted out, you now have to move
onto the next step, meal frequency.
Whether you’re trying to lose fat or build muscle, the number of meals you eat per day
simply doesn’t matter.
Whether you eat 1 meal per day or 6 meals per day, the choice is up to you.
The amount of fat you lose or muscle you gain is not determined by the number of meals
you eat.
However, I will recommend an approach called intermittent fasting (IF) that focuses on
eating bigger, but less frequent meals (typically 1-3 meals per day).
For those who don’t know, IF a way of eating where you simply alternate between extended
periods of eating and fasting (not eating).
You still eat the same amount of calories and macros every day but they would be spread
out into less frequent, larger meals vs. the typical 6-8 small meals per day.
This allows you to eat a crap ton of more food during each meal and still lose fat.
diet & nutrition | meal frequency 63
I regularly eat 1.5 pound Chipotle burritos and still drop fat like crazy :) This is because I’m
still eating the same amount of calories, the only difference is I’m eating less frequent but
much larger meals.
With IF, it doesn’t matter how often you eat, the only thing that matters is staying within your
calories and macros.
Just off the top of my head here are some of the awesome benefits of intermittent fasting:
But above all else, the biggest benefit of IF is the freedom it gives you.
I’m going to be covering the 2 best IF protocols for fat loss and building muscle
64 diet & nutrition | meal frequency
On this plan you basically fast the entire day and eat one big meal per
night.
Plus I allow one serving of fruit that’s no more than 100 calories to help
tide you over in case you have any hunger pangs.
For example if you need 2000 calories per day to lose fat, you would
fast the the entire day (water and any zero calorie drink is allowed) and
eat all 2000 calories in a single meal at night. As you can imagine, 2000
calories in one meal is a ton so you get to have a lot of fun when deciding
what to eat :)
Here’s an example of one of the massive feasts I’ve recently had using
this system:
Because you have so much flexibility in food choices and so many cals to
play around with, you get to incorporate “fun” foods like ice cream into
my diet without going over your calorie limit.
Not to mention I was stuffed that night. It can feel like Thanksgiving dinner
every night when using this plan.
diet & nutrition | meal frequency 65
If that’s you, then I recommend IF protocol #2 where you eat 2 big meals
per day.
Your first meal will be in the afternoon (it’s up to you when you want to
break your fast, most people typically break around 12-1 pm).
Your second meal will be at night time during dinner (again, the exact
time is up to you).
So using the same 2000 calorie example, each meal in this plan will be
1000 calories.
Obviously your meals can’t be massive like IF plan #1 but 1000 calories is
still a lot for a single meal.
And you’re also allowed one fruit snack (no more than 100 calories) like
IF protocol #1 above.
In addition to the 2 IF protools above, there are a few ways you can modify them by
adding small snacks or combining both protocols.
Fasting from the night before to the following afternoon or evening can be tough so it
might it might help if you added 1-2 smalls snacks in between your fasts.
You can eat these snacks during any time of the day but you should aim to keep them
around 100-200 calories each.
66 diet & nutrition | meal frequency
As for the type of snacks, I recommend a large piece of fruit with high water content or a high
fiber protein bar like Quest bars (seriously the best protein bars on the market right now, ask
pretty much anyone).
For fruit, I recommend apples, oranges, and banana due to the high water and fiber content.
And no, your body won’t automatically stop burning fat just because you ate a piece of fruit.
That’s not how the body works. The small snacks are just to tide you over until you break the
fast with a big meal.
Pro Tip: Drinks like black coffee (you can add a splash of milk or zero calorie sweetener), tea,
and diet soda are great for helping you curb hunger throughout the day.
Whether you choose IF protocol #1 or #2, you aren’t permanently locked into either one.
For example, if you like eating one meal per day, that doesn’t mean you need to do IF plan
#1 all 7 days of the week for the rest of your life.
You could do IF protocol #1 on weekdays and IF plan #2 on weekends if that works out
better for you or vice versa.
You have complete control and massive amounts of flexibility when it comes to IF so mix
and match however you wish.
The most important thing is to pick an approach that you enjoy and that you know you can
stick with for the long run.
Whether or not you need to eat something pre-workout is totally up to you. Some guys do
fine completely fasted, some need a cup of coffee, while others need a piece of fruit and
some whey protein.
In this situation, the golden rule is to simply pick what gives you the best performance in the
gym.
As for postworkout, no matter when you decide to break your fast, I recommend getting
at least some protein in within 2 hours finishing your workout. If you break your fast within
these 2 hours, great. But if not, try to get some form of protein in to help build and repair
your muscles.
diet & nutrition | meal frequency 67
GUYS WHO NEED TO EAT A LOT TO BUILD MUSCLE MIGHT NOT NEED IF
One of the main reasons I recommend IF is because it helps you feel super satisfied when
dieting.
But if you’re trying to build muscle and you need to eat 3000+ calories to build muscle every
day, then IF might not be the best option for you since it might be hard for you to stomach
so much food in one sitting.
In this case, you might be better off eating 4-6 meals per day.
So if you struggle with eating enough food while using the IF, then try eating more frequent
meals.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON 9
S
ometimes you need to actually eat more to continue to lose fat.
And when people begin to plateau, they lose motivation, decide to binge eat,
and regain all their weight.
Sometimes you need overeat to blast through these plateaus and this is where
refeed days come into play.
Let’s just get this out of the way – cheat days are not the same as refeed days.
Everyone has their own definition but I’m going to define them as used in the most practical
sense:
Cheat days – You spend an entire day eating without any form of restriction (no tracking
macros or calories).
Refeed day – A structured and controlled day of overeating (where the extra calories come
diet & nutrition | refeed days 69
On paper, cheat days sound like the most epic thing ever.
But if you’re not careful, they can quickly turn into a disaster.
That’s not to say you can never have cheat days where you
eat in a completely unrestricted manner, but once per week
is probably too much. Save full blown cheat days for special
occasions like birthdays, holidays, and vacations.
Plus, strength level go up the day after a refeeding due to the increase in muscle glycogen
levels.
Note: This number can be anywhere from 30-50% is but 40% a good starting point.
So if you’re 180 pounds, and you’re currently using a 12x multiplier and eating about 2160
calories…
On your refeed day, you would then eat 3024 calories. (0.4 * 2160 = 864 calories + 2160 =
3024)
This is because as you lose weight, you’ll naturally burn less overall calories because you’re
simply not carry as much weight which also leads to a slight decrease in metabolism. This is
also known as adaptive thermogenesis.
• So leaner guys (who are 10-12% body fat) should have one refeed day every week.
diet & nutrition | refeed days 71
• If you are above 12% body fat, you should have a refeed
day every 10-14 days.
• If you are really overweight (25% and up), you really don’t
need more than one refeed day every 3-4 weeks. But test
this to see how you feel. If you really feel you need more,
then do it. Always listen to your body.
And while the exact day doesn’t matter too much, it’s
probably the most practical to have a refeed day on the
weekends when you know you’re already more likely to
overeat.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON 10
W
hen it comes to dieting, hopefully you’re not one of those people who lives
under a rock because he’s scared eating any outside food is going to fuck up
his fat loss progress.
And even worse, I pray that you don’t become one of those people that brings their own
tupperware container of food to a restaurant.
I want you to know that there is a way for you to go out, eat massive amounts of tasty food
and still see amazing results.
And no, this isn’t cliche “pick the healthier option” advice either.
No, instead there’s a very effective system I teach people called calorie cycling that allows
them to manipulate their intake so they can still enjoy themselves when going out to eat or
hang out with friends.
diet & nutrition | calorie cycling 73
F
or example, let’s say you’re a guy who needs 2000 calories per day to
lose one pound per week.
If you have a birthday party on Saturday night and overeat by 2000 calories
then you’ve dramatically decreased the amount of fat you’re going to lose for
that week.
Here’s how to effectively “cycle” your calories using the same example above
so that you can have higher calorie cheat meals/days while still staying on
track and losing weight:
This gives us an extra 1500 calories to play around with and I added them to
Saturday since the weekends are when people typically overeat more.
74 diet & nutrition | calorie cycling
Of course this is just an example and you can cycle your calories
however you wish.
It doesn’t mean you can eat zero calories Monday-Friday and eat
7000 calories on Saturday and Sunday.
To be safe, don’t bank more than 500 calories per day for more than
3x per week.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON 1 1
PUTTING IT ALL
Give a man a
fish, he’ll eat
TOGETHER WITH
for a day. Teach
a man to fish,
DIETING� � STEPS
he’ll eat for a
lifetime.
TO CREATING YOUR
ULTIMATE LIFESTYLE DIET
Below is a 5 Step Chart that summarizes everything I’ve been talking about in the diet/nutri-
tion module and ties it all together in a pretty bow for you.
76 diet & nutrition | putting it all together
diet & nutrition | putting it all together 77
78 diet & nutrition | putting it all together
diet & nutrition | putting it all together 79
There’s no difference between eating 1 meal per day or 6 meals per day.
How you determine which meal frequency to follow is completely up to you. Some people
do better on 6 meals per day. Some do better on 2 meals per day.
I’m a huge fan of simply eating 1-2 meals per day but that might not work for everyone.
I recommend trying 2 big meals per day if you’re trying to lose fat and see that works for you.
If you’re trying to gain muscle, you might want to increase meal frequency a bit since eating
a large amount of calories in only 1-2 meals per day is hard for some people.
But bottom line – experiment and find what works for you.
80 diet & nutrition | putting it all together
Your calories and macros are going to form the foundation of your diet.
And like mentioned in previous lessons, you don’t need to track your macros down to the
exact gram like a lot of other fitness gurus say.
Note: I do recommend you to track all 3 macros for a week or so just to get an idea of what
food portions look like.
It’s more about staying within your overall calories, hitting a certain amount of protein, and
eyeballing everything else which is the foundation of Macro FLEX tracking.
80% of your diet should come from whole, nutritious foods like meats, potatoes, rice, pasta,
fruits, veggies. The other 20% can be whatever you want.
The first 3 steps above are more important than anything else.
But like with any diet there are always little details you need to figure out as well. So I suggest
figuring out the following before you start:
only need a refeed day once every 2 weeks or so. Guys at 12% and under will probably need
one once per week. Listen to your body. If you’re really low on energy, do a refeed.
If you know you’re going to overeat on Saturday night or whatever, cycle your calories.
This means eat 500 calories less during the week so you have 500 calories more to eat on
Saturday.
Drink a shake if you have trouble getting enough calories. Throw in milk, peanut butter,
protein powder, coconut oil and createa a super calorie dense shake that goes down easily.
Find a way to get at least 3 servings of fruits and veggies per day.
day. If you don’t like eating
them, just throw them into a blender and drink them.
Not getting enough protein through real food? Take a whey protein powder.
Not eating a lot of fatty fish and getting a lot of Omega 3s? Take some fish oil.
Struggling to gain some strength in the gym? Try taking creatine monohydrate.
Low on energy before you workout? Take some caffeine or a preworkout supplement.
LESSON 1 2
Using Macro
TO EAT EVERY
SINGLE DAY, THAT
WOULD GIVE YOU
FLEX Tracking
ZERO ROOM FOR
FLEXIBILITY.
People always ask me why I don’t provide exact step-by-step meal plans.
Any my answer is always because they’re too restrictive and they don’t teach your how to create
YOUR ideal lifestyle.
I can’t tell you exactly what to eat every single day because I don’t know you, your food
preferences,
preferences, your schedule, and your lifestyle.
If I told you what to eat every single day, that would give you zero room for flexibility.
flexibility.
This is why I give you guidelines instead. This is why I give you the Macro FLEX strategy – so
you can have massive amounts of flexibility in your diet, enjoy the foods you eat, and still see
amazing results.
But just so you have something to work off of, here’s an example of what a typical day might
look like.
83 diet & nutrition | meal example 83
84 diet & nutrition | meal example 84
85 superhero shredding 2.0 85
workouts
OVERVIEW OF SUPERHERO
SHREDDING WORKOUT
LESSON 1
OVERVIEW OF SUPERHERO
SHREDDING WORKOUT
S
uperhero Shredding workouts are broken into a variety of splits for beginners and
intermediates.
Workouts range from 2-4x per week depending on your current experience level
and last approximately 1 hour per workout.
The main problems with most traditional workout are intensity and frequency.
When you hear about how actors like Henry Cavill or Chris Pratt get in shape, it’s always this super
intense workout that has them training 5x per week for 2+ hours a session.
workouts | overview 87
This is exactly why so few celebrities are only ripped for the movie and unable to maintain their
results for the long run.
I’m not saying you can’t eventually train 5x per week for 2 hours per session (if that’s your goal), but
you definitely can’t start there.
If you’re the average dude who wants to look like a Hollywood celebrity, then you just can’t be
training at that level of intensity or you will burn out very quickly.
And no, this isn’t just about having to just “man up” and just copy what everyone else is doing. That’s
stupid and you should never just copy what someone is doing just for the sake of it.
You need to plan that you know you can follow in the long run and doesn’t constantly burn you out.
You need to train in a way that’s suited for you, your goals, and your experience level.
Series 1 is called the Nova Series which was made for complete newbies and beginners.
Series 2 is called the Titan series which was made for intermediates.
And within each level are a variety of different splits for you to choose from depending on your goal.
Here’s an overview of what the Superhero Shredding workout splits looks like:
In the next few lessons, I’ll be going into the exact details of the splits and how to do them.
88 workouts | overview
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON 2
PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD: THE
UNDISPUTED LAW OF TRAINING
W
orkout programs are like ice cream flavors, everyone has their
favorite, everyone has their opinion what is best.
Without progressive overload, you’ll never get stronger, you’ll never build
more muscle, and you’ll never move forward in your quest to build a lean
and muscular superhero body.
It’s a very simple concept but one that most guys ignore for whatever reason.
PO can be achieved in a variety of ways with the most common methods being adding more
weight or doing more reps.
90 workouts | progressive overload
But there are a couple of other ways to achieve PO, which include:
As you can see, each of these methods have you doing more and more work.
And as long as you consistently improve, even if it’s at an incredibly slow pace, you’ll even-
tually get stronger and build more muscle.
• Being in a surplus gives you more energy. Being in a deficit for a long period of time will
eventually lead less energy in the gym.
• Being in a surplus is creates the optimal environment in your body to build more muscle.
It’s pretty much impossible to build muscle if you’re in a calorie deficit unless you’re a
beginner.
So if you’re an intermediate and doing any of the Titan Series workouts, don’t expect to get
stronger if you’re trying to lose fat.
When you first start training as a beginner, you’ll find that you’ll gain strength at an incred-
ibly fast and consistent rate.
Every week, you’ll be able to add more weight and do more reps like magic.
But as you get more advanced and transition to the intermediate stage of lifting, you’ll find
that PO becomes much harder.
Getting stronger doesn’t happen week after week and you’ll likely hit a plateau every now
and then.
This is guaranteed to happen because you simply can’t expect to get stronger every week
till the end of time. If that were the case, I’d be doing weighted chin ups with 800 pounds
workouts | progressive overload 91
The bottom line is, as you get more advanced, PO slows down and
everything becomes much more non-linear.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON �
Breaking Down
The Different
Training Styles
E
ach of the exercises in the Superhero Shredding workout need to be
done in a specific style.
In the actual workouts, I’ll specify which training style applies to each exercise.
Straight sets are relatively simple and make up a large chunk of the Nova
Series workouts.
• Pick a weight you can lift for the specified rep range (this might take a little
trial and error)
• Rest the specified amount of time
• Rinse and repeat for following sets
So for example, if an exercise calls for 3 sets of 4-6 reps, you would do 3 sets,
with each set being 4-6 reps.
Super simple.
workouts | breaking down 93
Most straight sets are done in a specific rep range (e.g. 4-6 reps instead of just 6 reps).
The reason behind this is because the first set will fatigue your muscles which typically
results in you not being able to lift as much weight in subsequent sets. So you might hit 6
reps the first set but only 4 reps the second set.
• Pick a weight you can only lift for 4 reps. The 5th rep
should be extremely challenging to do.
• Keep working with this same weight until you can do 6
reps with it.
• Once you’re able to do 6 reps with this weight, increase
the weight by lowest possible amount.
• Lift the new weight for 4 reps.
• Rinse and repeat.
Traditional pyramid training requires you to start with the lightest weight and work your way
up each subsequent set. For example, if you do 3 sets of bench press…set #1 will be the
lightest, set #2 will be heavier, and set #3 will be the heaviest.
It’s a more advanced training style that will only be used in the Titan Series.
Instead of starting with the lightest weight, your first set will be your heaviest set.
The reason reverse pyramid training is so effective is because it allows you to push the
maximum amount of weight during your first set while you’re still fresh.
94 workouts | breaking down
You haven’t been fatigued by previous sets so you’re able to go all out that first set when
you have the most energy which ends up recruiting the most muscle fibers and spurring the
most strength and growth.
After the first heavy set, you lower the weight by 10%, and on set #2, you do 1-2 more rep
than set #1. You do the same thing for set #3 and – lower the weight by 10% and do 1-2
more reps.
So for example, here’s how it would look like for the bench press.
If you’re unable to increase your top set, then try the follow-
ing:
• Focus on doing more reps in the following sets (set #2, set
#3, and so on).
Rest pause training is a very underutilized but damn effective method for getting a lot of
work done in a very condensed time frame.
Basically, it means you get to workout less and still get badass results.
workouts | breaking down 95
So what is it?
Rest Pause Training is essentially a “‘cluster” of 3-6 mini sets sets grouped into one big set
that has you using the exact same weight for all 3-6 sets.
What makes it so challenging is the fact that you only get to rest 10-15 seconds between
sets.
Let’s say you can press 60 pound dumbbells for 10 reps before you hit failure.
With rest pause training, you will do 10 reps in your first set, rest 10-15 seconds, and attempt
as many reps as you can with the same weight. You will repeat this process until you’ve
done 3-6 total sets.
[rest 10 seconds]
[rest 10 seconds]
[rest 10 seconds]
[rest 10 seconds]
[rest 10 seconds]
When you do rest pause training, you will find that that the amount of reps you’re able to
do on Set #2 decreases by about 50%. By the last set, you’ll probably only be able to get
1-2 reps, which is totally fine and expected.
96 workouts | breaking down
The whole point of rest pause training is to get a large amount of work done in a small
amount of time and to fatigue your muscles as much as possible.
Since your first set is done with substantially higher reps, you
will only be able to get 3-6 reps for each subsequent set.
The rest pause high rep activation set will look something like
this:
[rest 10 seconds]
[rest 10 seconds]
[rest 10 seconds]
[rest 10 seconds]
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON �
EXERCISE SELECTION: PICKING
SELECTION: PICKING THE
RIGHT EXERCISES FOR A BADASS
SUPERHERO BODY
S
uperhero Shredding isn’t about doing nothing but bench presses and bicep curls.
It’s about getting building insane amounts of strength and focusing on body parts
like the upper chest, shoulders, and back that will give your physique the greatest
visual appeal.
If you look a celebrities like Ryan Reynolds and Daniel Craig you’ll notice they don’t look like
your typical bodybuilder.
bodybuilder. They all have a very lean, aesthetic physique which isn’t achieved
by simply benching, squatting, and deadlifting.
Below are some notes you should know about the main exercises in SS, how to do them,
and substitutions if you can’t perform it or don’t have the necessary equipment.
workouts | exercise selection 99
One of the biggest myths in the bodybuilding/fitness space is that you must do the “Big 3”
in order to build an amazing physique.
If you go to a traditional bodybuilder forum and tell them you don’t squat, you’ll likely have
your manhood and any sense of self-worth destroyed by a bunch of 14 year olds.
These 3 movements are the same movements powerlifters practice to perform at meets but
we’re not powerlifters.
The problem with focusing on just these is that they don’t produce a very aesthetic, lean
and muscular physique. They don’t build that lean V-taper
V-taper that we want. Instead, they end
up building a a set of very large, bulky legs and a large lower chest, caused by the flat bench
press.
I’m not saying the Big 3 are bad exercises, they just can’t be the primary focus if you want a
superhero physique.
To build a superhero physique, we need to focus on movements other than the Big 3.
Notice I put barbell incline press and not the flat barbell press like everyone else does. This
is because focusing on the incline press produces a much nicer, “square shaped chest”
warrior look vs the bodybuilder man boob look.
Choosing between
betwee n incline and flat isn’t going to make or break your body but if possible, put
p ut
a focus on incline.
– Retract your scapula. This is quite possibly the greatest tip I can give you if you feel any
sort of pain in your shoulder when benching. To retract your scapula, do these 3 steps:
2) Pull your shoulder blades as far back as possible while holding the shrugging movement.
100 workouts | exercise selection
3) Lower your shoulder blades while still holding that shrugging movement and having your
shoulder blades pulled back. If you still don’t understand how to do it, watch this video
demonstration.
It might be a bit uncomfortable to lie down in this position at first but I can pretty much
guarantee
guaran tee all pain in your shoulders will be gone.
Also be sure to arch your back while keeping your feet firmly planted in the ground.
SQUAT
Squats are also one of the most technical lifts out there. It’s a lot more than just “go up and
down” like a lot people like to say.
If you still find yourself unable to do squats properly, try the goblet squat variation with
dumbbells or the Bulgarian split squat as seen below.
DEADLIFT
Deadlift variations: conventional, sumo, trap bar, rack pull, Dumbbell swings +
hyperextensions
I recommend experimenting between conventional and sumo variations to see which one
feels more natural. Depending on your height and leverage points, you might be better off
doing conventional or sumo.
If for whatever reason you’re really having issues with mobility, you can do rack pulls which
are like partial deadlifts done in a power rack (with the pins set at knee level).
Tips to not screw up the deadlift (these rules apply to any deadlift variation):
A fantastic movement for your quads, the Bulgarian split squat (BSS) is a single leg movement
where you train one leg at a time by elevating one leg to the back of a bench and squatting
down with the other leg.
The biggest mistake people have with the BSS is keeping balance making sure you don’t
constantly fall over.
To maintain your balance, keep your head in a neutral position, keep your core tight, and
make sure your feet are fully planted in the floor to make sure you don’t fall off balance.
You should feel a deep burn in the quad (the side where your foot is on the ground).
Weighted chin ups are hands down, one of the best back exercises ever.
Nothing comes close to packing on rock hard muscle on your back and getting that sleek
v-taper than doing super heavy weighted chins. Once you can do weighed chins with 100
pounds for reps, you WILL NOT have a small back. And once you can do it with over 75% of
your bodyweight attached, you will have a back that puts Greek gods to shame.
And not only are weighted chins great for your back, they also build a badass pair of biceps.
Notes:
• Do not start adding weight to your chin ups until you can do at 10 chin ups with your
bodyweight only using strict controlled form (each chin up should be done from a dead
hang position. No swinging.)
• You do not need to get a weight belt to do weighted chin ups until you start crossing
using heavier weights. Instead, you can simply take a dumbbell and put it in between
your legs. This is a lot easier than using plates until you start working with really heavy
weight.
• Once you start doing chins in the 80+ pound, it’ll probably be easier to buy a weight belt.
Putting a 120 pound dumbbell between your legs isn’t very fun. I highly recommend the
Brute Belt. I’ve tried a lot of belts on the market and this is hands down the best, most
durable belt out there, and it’s super easy to use.
102 workouts | exercise selection
WEIGHTED DIPS
Weighted dips are the triceps equivalent of weighted chin ups. They are an awesome
exercise for building your triceps that’s it’s a mystery why more people don’t do them.
If you can work your way up to 100+ pound weighted dips, you will never have to worry
about having small triceps again.
Notes:
• You can also put a dumbbell between your leg to do weighted dips. But you’re probably
wondering, how do I position myself in the dip station with a giant dumbbell between
my legs especially if the bars are positioned too high? What I do is put the dumbbell
between my legs and then I place my forearms on the dip bars and use my forearms to
lift my body up.
• Don’t go down more than 90 degrees when doing dips, doing so will put you at a very
high risk of injury.
• Some people experience shoulder pain when doing heavy dips. If you find this to be
constantly happening to you, then I suggest switching to close grip barbell bench press
instead.
CABLE CRUNCHES
However when a lot of guys do them, they don’t fully activate their ab muscles and end up
working out their lower back instead.
Your starting position should be you on your knees with an arched back.
And I can’t of any easier way to explain this, but your ending position should be you trying
to suck your own dick.
Make sure to really brace your core as you do every single rep.
workouts | warming u p 103
LESSON �
W
arming up is a must so you don’t injure yourself so make sure you don’t skip
it even if you feel like you don’t need it.
Note: You only need to do these drills before your first big primary lift (e.g.
squat, deadlift, bench press)
104 workouts | warming up
After doing the mobility warmups as outlined above, you need to do 3-4 warm up sets
before your actual working set. This may seem like a lot but it’s absolutely necessary if you
don’t want to injure yourself, or you know, die.
So let’s use an example with the sumo deadlift and let’s say your
first working set is 315 pounds.
• Warm up set #1 (bar only) : the bar only for 5-10 reps.
• Warm up set #2 (40-50% of working set): 135 pounds for 3-5
reps
• Warm up set #3 (60-70% of working set): 195 pounds for 3 reps
• Warm up set #4 (80-85% of working set): 255 pounds for 1-2
reps
A “fresh” body part is a body part that hasn’t been hit at all during the workout.
For example, if you do deadlifts and bench press in the same workout, you would need to
warm up for both exercises using both stages 1 and 2 above.
But if you do deadlifts then chin ups, you wouldn’t need to do a 3-4 set warmup for the chin
workouts | warming u p 105
ups since deadlifts hit your back already to some extent. I would however do one set of chin
ups before your working set just to “feel out” the movement and a make sure everything
feels right. This set should be done around 60% of your first working set for 2-3 reps.
However if you do chin ups then deadlifts, I would warm up on chin ups using the same 3-4
set procedure above.
But with all that said, it’s never a bad idea to do one warm up set before any exercise just
to get a feel for the exercise.
When doing isolation movements like lateral raises, dumbbell curls, and tricep extensions,
you don’t need to warm up since the muscle is so small and you’ve already hit them earlier
with the big compound movements.
No.
Some people find that it helps and if you think it helps you then feel free to stretch.
In the Superhero Shredding workouts, I’ll specify the exact number reps you need to do for
a specific exercise.
For example, I might tell you to perform the bench press for 5 reps.
But this does not mean you can choose ANY weight you want and lift it for 5 reps.
So many people screw this up and think just because the reps are specified that they can
just pick and choose any weight they want and lift it.
Remember this: When I tell you to lift something for 5 reps, you need to pick a weight that’s
challenging enough to the point that you can only lift it for 5 reps with maybe 1 more rep left
“in the tank,” meaning you could maybe do a 6th rep if you really really tried but that would
push you to the brink of failure. The 5th rep should feel really tough to do.
106 workouts | warming up
The same goes for any other rep range, whether it’s 8, 10, or 15 reps:
pick a weight heavy enough that you can only lift it for that specified
rep range.
And yes, this might take a tiny bit of trial and error to find what weight
is challenging for you. But it’s something you have to do.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON 6
Nova means “new” in Latin so the Nova Series is for beginners (yeah, I’m fancy like that).
Just because you’ve been lifting for the past 3 years doesn’t
mean you’re not a beginner.
Remember that since you’re a beginner, you have the power to easily build muscle
and lose fat at the same time.
So even if your goal is fat loss, you’ll likely gain some muscle too.
108 workouts | nova seri es
And if your goal is to gain muscle, you might lose some fat in the process.
The reason I say this is to serve as a reminder that you shouldn’t use the scale as
your main method of tracking progress. Losses in fat and gains in muscle can easily
cause the scale to not move at all.
If you’re 25% body fat and up, you should use GZT.
The reason behind this is because I want you to use your diet as your main tool for fat
loss.
As a beginner, you simply can’t train that hard without burning out.
The goal of GZT is to get you to a point where you’re relatively lean at around 15% body
fat, then I recommend transitioning to Nova Shred if you want to lose more fat or Nova
Mass if you want to start focusing on building muscle.
NOVA SHRED
Who should use this Nova Shred?
Nova Shred is a fat loss workout for beginners who have moderate to low amounts of fat
to lose.
And since you’re a beginner, you’ll likely gain muscle and lose fat at the same time as you
get stronger.
NOVA MASS
Who should use Nova Mass?
workouts | nova seri es 109
Nova Mass is a 3 day split focused 100% on helping you pack on as much muscle as fast
and efficiently as possible.
Yes.
I completely understand how skinny fat guys are both skinny and fat and how it’s
frustrating as hell, but training heavy and eating is the best thing you could be
doing right now.
Since you’re so new to weight training, the combo of heavy weight training and
eating more quality food will actually help you lose fat and build muscle at the
same time.
So do the Nova Mass workouts and combine it with a calorie surplus and you’ll see
some magic happen.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
• Nova Series consists of 3 workout splits: Ground Zero Training, Nova Shred,
Nova Mass.
• Ground Zero Training - Use this if you have a significant amount of fat to lose
(25% body fat and up).
• Nova Shred - Use this if you have moderate to low amounts of fat to lose (20%
body fat and below).
• Nova Mass – Use this if you’re skinny or skinny fat and looking to gain quality
muscle mass.
110 workouts | titan series
LESSON 7
TITAN SERIES:
TAKING IT TO THE NEXT
LEVEL
T
he Titan Series is the next level.
If you know for sure that you’re an intermediate lifter, then jump
right in.
Otherwise please make sure that you’ve been on Nova for at least 6
months and have gained your first 15-25 pounds of muscle if you’re
transitioning from a beginner.
• Titan Shred
• Titan Mass
workouts | titan series 111
Titan Shred
Titan Shred is strictly a fat loss workout.
Titan Mass
Titan Mass is an advanced 4-day muscle building split.
If you’re used to training 3 days per week or less, then the first 1-2 weeks
might feel a bit exhausting but your body quickly builds up to handle this
level of training volume so I wouldn’t worry about it.
The split itself as you can see below is a 4 day upper/lower split that
incorporates all 3 training styles (straight sets, reverse pyramid training,
rest pause).
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
• Don’t do the Titan Series if you haven’t gained at least 15-25 pounds of lean
muscle.
E
ventually you’re going to plateau in you’re
LESSON 8
training.
TRAINING Long term strength gains are never linear, and busting
PLATEAUS through them sometimes requires a little tweaking here
and there.
If you go into your workout thinking that you won’t be able to do lift a certain weight, then
you probably won’t.
This is why you always see guys psyching themselves up before a lift.
I don’t recommend beating your chest and making gorilla like noises in the gym but get your
head on straight before going into your workout.
Don’t stress, take a few deep breathes, and really concentrate on the task at hand.
You’d be surprised by how much more you can actually push if you have the right mindset.
So if you’ve been feeling tired, stressed, and worn out, take one week off from the gym.
Stick with the workouts in Superhero Shredding for at a minimum of 3 weeks before trying
to switch things up.
A lot of the times, you just need to be patient and if you just stick with the weight for 3
weeks for so, you’ll typically be able to bust through.
With that being said, if after 3 weeks you still find yourself stuck, use the plateau busters
below.
For example in the Nova or Titan workouts, you might do an exercise for 4-6 reps (straight
set). To modify the rep scheme you can change it to 6-8 reps. This would require you to
lower the weight a bit.
After performing the exercise in a different rep range, you’ll find when you return to the
original rep range again, your strength will go up.
If you find yourself in a plateau, one thing you could try is extending your rep range.
For example, if you do 4-6 reps (straight set), then work past the 6th rep.
So if you’re benching 135 pounds and get to 6 reps, extend it with to 8 reps while still push-
ing 135 pounds.
For example, if you’ve been stuck on the incline barbell press, then switch to incline dumb-
bell presses.
• Make sure you’re warming up properly. Jumping into your first working
set without warm ups is never going to lead to optimal performance
and your chances of injury skyrocket.
116 workouts | how to blast
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
LESSON 9
CHEAT SHEET
you MUST do it.
O
f course there are exercises and movements I highly recommend
over others but sometimes you simply can’t do the specified exercise
because your gym doesn’t have the proper equipment, the exercise
simply doesn’t feel natural to you, it doesn’t work since you have a
pre-existing injury, etc…
Whatever the reason, below I have listed the acceptable exercise substitutions for
almost every single exercise in Superhero Shredding Nova and Titan workouts. If I
missed something or you have a specific substitution you want to run by me, ask me
in the Facebook group.
118 workouts | exercise substitution
workouts | cardio protocols 119
LESS
LESSON
ON 10
10
U
nlike most people, I don’t believe cardio is necessary for fat loss
or muscle building.
I find when you place too much of an emphasis on cardio, you burn out
too quickly which leads to large amounts of mental and physical stress
which can then lead to episodes of overeating/bing eating.
Not to mention the amount of calories you burn with cardio is nothing to
the amount you can burn by simply eating less.
I’m definitely not here to bash on cardio and conditioning work, it’s defi-
nitely beneficial from a cardiovascular and endurance standpoint, I’m just
saying it shouldn’t be the your primary method for losing weight.
You can reach 95% of your goals without doing a single second of traditional cardio.
But if you want to go from looking “great” to “fucking amazing” then you might want to
consider using the following cardio protocols.
But it does help build endurance, stamina, conditioning levels, and just maintain good over-
all health.
But a very important note: Cardio burns extra calories, so you absolutely MUST eat even
more food to compensate for the extra calories burned with cardio. For example, if you
decide to do sprints one day, make sure you’re eating an extra 200-300 calories on top of
what you were already planning to eat.
Intensity: Low
This is probably the lamest sounding form of cardio ever, but it works.
Simply finding opportunities to walk more is an amazing way to burn more calories without
even thinking about it.
If you walk just an extra 10-20 minutes per day, that can add up very quickly in terms of
calories burned.
Plus, the low intensity nature of walking won’t impact your recovery levels.
If you’re not the type of person who likes to do high intensity conditioning work like the
cardio protocols below, then I highly recommend just walking more.
Intensity: High
I’m sure you’ve heard about the benefits of HIIT (high intensity interval training) before.
They are touted as one of the best ways to burn fat and increase conditioning levels. And
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this is true but they can also quickly lead to burnout especially if you’re a beginner.
beginner.
So start with doing sprints 1x per week and work your way up.
Intensity: High
Metabolic circuits involve doing traditional exercises like push ups and pull ups, but in a
circuit fashion where you do a lot more reps (15+) and a lot less rest.
By doing this, you’re increasing your heart rate and working your cardiovascular system
much more than simply lifting something heavy for 5 reps.
But just like sprints, metabolic circuits are very high intensity and you don’t want to do too
much too soon.
So start slow (1x per week) and work your way up.
Lesson Recap
Let’s recap this lesson:
wrapping up
WHAT TO DO AFTER
SUPERHERO SHREDDING� THE
ART OF MAINTENANCE
125 wrapping up | living the non-fitness 125
LESSON 1
W
hen creating Superhero Shredding 2.0, my goal wasn’t to create just
another 30 or 60 day transformation program.
1. While you can get results in 30 or 60 days, you can’t get mind blowing results.
2. I wanted to teach people a system and philosophy that allows them to lose fat, build
muscle, and get that amazing superhero body without being obsessed with fitness
24/7.
Adding to to point #2, everything taught in Superhero Shredding (the mindset, Macro FLEX
Tracking, focusing on heavy lifting, etc…) encompasses what I like to call the non-fitness
lifestyle.
126 wrapping up | living the non-fitness 126
The non-fitness lifestyle is a way of living (duh!) and philosophy that believes that fitness
should compliment and enhance your life, not control it.
Today’s generation of fitness enthusiasts are simply too obsessed with fitness.
And don’t think obsession and enthusiasm/dedication are the same thing.
I am very dedicated to my training and nutrition but I don’t let it define who I am.
However this generation of guys (especially the younger ones in their teens and 20s), treat
fitness like it’s their life and job.
And I partially blame this on the rise of internet “fitness celebrities” who sensationalize the
effects having a ripped body will give you.
(e.g. Most guys like to believe having a ripped 6 pack at 6% body fat will automatically make
them rich and famous.)
Call me bat shit insane but I don’t think believe you were put on this planet just so you can
have 18 inch arms and bench press 300 pounds.
Sure it’s cool to be super strong and look good, but the moment you let it define you, is the
moment you lose.
Don’t be like the guys who spend their entire lives just lifting weights and watching Youtube
videos of other guys lifting weights.
So unless you truly dream of being a fitness model, competitive powerlifter, or any occupation
where amazing aesthetics and/or strength are a requirement, then please stop taking this
so seriously.
That’s the core mission of the non-fitness lifestyle – to take this massive load of fitness
obsession off your shoulder, and to show you that if you miss a workout, screw up on your
diet, or don’t have 18 inch arms…it’s okay.
127 wrapping up | what to do after 127
LESSON 2
S
o you’ve completed Superhero Shredding.
Congrats!
Pat yourself on the back and go out and splurge on some hookers and cocaine
(or not, if you’re not into that sort of stuff).
While you managed to build a lean and chiseled, head turning physique that
puts even Ryan Gosling to shame, now comes the super hard part, maintaining
your results.
Too many guys fall into the trap of just fucking everything up once they get
results.
They work their ass off for months or years, building muscle and losing fat like a
boss but everything comes crashing down when it comes to simply maintaining
their results.
They revert back to old habits, start skipping workouts, and start their old ways
of dieting again only to undo all their hard work and progress.
It’s a sad thing to see and in this lesson I want to help you make sure it never
happen to you.
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But once they reach their end goal (whatever it may be),
they lose all sense of motivation and drive because the goal
was all they had in mind this whole time. This leads them to
revert back to their old habits and lifestyle.
Alright, so with that out of the way, let’s get into how you
actually maintain your body.You just undid the majority of
your previous efforts during the week.
So eating at maintenance levels simply means eating at a level where you’re neither gaining
nor losing weight.
You can also plug in the calculations into the Macro FLEX calculator
And while the 15x multiplier is a rough estimate of how many cals you need
to maintain your weight, I think there’s a slight myth to the whole mainte-
nance thing.
The fact is, your weight is never going to stay exactly the same. There are just
too many factors to cause weight to either shoot up or down on an hourly,
daily, and weekly basis.
Factors like water/sodium/carb intake and your training can affect your
weight so it’s best to shoot for an overall average more than anything else.
I like to focus on the “5 pound rule,” which means you shouldn’t let yourself
be 5 pounds heavier than you currently are.
Focus on this and you won’t freak out every time you gain 1 pound overnight.
One of the biggest mistakes I see guys make when they lose weight and get their desired
body is that they start binging on food.
They’ll eat all the foods they’re been depriving themselves of and undo all the results they’re
worked so hard on.
This is why I spent so much time trying to educate you on the importance on calories,
macronutrients, micronutrients, moderation, being flexible with your lifestyle, and following
130 wrapping up | what to do after
You’ll typically get about 500 extra calories per day once you
bump up your calorie intake to maintenance levels.
Do not do this.
In your head, you’re thinking “Oh yay I get to eat an extra 500
calories worth of ice cream and doughnuts everyday.”
If you want to lower volume a bit, that’s fine just make sure
your strength doesn’t go down.