Metabolic Masterpiece

Lose Fat and Get Jacked

Are 30 Minute Workouts Better Than 60 Minute Workouts?

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Recent research arrived at the conclusion that 30 minute workouts produced the same amount of weight and fat loss as 60 minutes workouts. Is there merit to this study? Is this really the best approach for you? Let’s explore these questions in detail and with your best interests at heart…

First of all, you can download the full 33 page research paper in pdf format here, from the American Physiological Society.

In this study, the group that performed 30 minute workouts (burning 300 calories) lost 4.0kg’s of fat during a 13 week period compared to the 60 minute workout group (burning 600 calories) who burned 3.8kg’s.

The release of this study opened the floodgates for “fitness experts” who take a narrow minded approach toward shorter workouts. Headlines such as, “60 Minute Workouts Worse Than 30 minutes” popped up all over the blogoshpere and in email inbox’s.

I found this both comical and disgusting.

…comical because about Are 30 Minute Workouts Better Than 60 Minute Workouts?

5 Weeks Out From My First Bodybuilding Competition

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bodybuilding lightweight competitor

In 5 weeks I will be competing in my first bodybuilding contest, the Fouad Abiad Open followed by the UFE Halloween Mayhem 3 weeks later. I’m starting to dial in my nutrition and am extremely confident that I will be absolutely shredded by show day.

I’ve been spending a good amount of time practicing the mandatory poses with a couple buddies who are also competing for the first time this month. The process itself has been incredibly rewarding. My mind-muscle connection has never been stronger, which has carried over into my workouts and improving my overall results.

Here I am in action 5 weeks out… (5 foot 7 inches weighing 151 pounds)
about 5 Weeks Out From My First Bodybuilding Competition

Are Supplements Worth It Or Should You Save Your Money?

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Do you think that supplements are worth it? Are there any fat loss or muscle building supplements that have worked for you? With all the marketing claims from the big supplement companies, you’d think we would all be ripped and sporting huge muscles by now. But that’s not the case… sooo…

…Rather than relying on advertisements to reveal what works, let’s go with real world results and share what we have found to work for each of us as well as what we have found to be a complete waste of money.

Tripled My Monthly Investment in Supplements

I’ll kick things off by sharing my recent experiment where I tripled my investment in fat loss supplements and muscle building supplements.

You would think that by spending nearly $300 on supplements each month I would see some sort of noticeable and measurable improvement.

Let’s see if that was the case with some of the most common supplements on the market… bcaa’s, creatine, fish oil, glutamine, and protein powders, and meal replacements.
about Are Supplements Worth It Or Should You Save Your Money?

Upper Back Workout For Mass

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Upper back workouts for massA strong muscular upper back is definitely an attention magnet. We’re talking V-taper as well as thickness. If your upper back is a weak point I encourage you to apply the 5 mass building tips below in addition to the killer upper back workout.

5 Mass Building Tips For An Impressive Upper Back

1) Deadlifts… lots and lots of deadlifts. Ever since I began incorporating deadlifts on back training day I have experienced great improvement in muscle thickness in my lats, traps, and spinal erectors. Some muscle building coaches recommend only heavy weight low rep deadlifts for building upper back thickness, but I found that a combination of both low rep and high rep deadlifts worked best for a hardgainer like me.

2) Check your ego at the door and reduce the weight. When you lift too heavy on your rows, pullups, and pulldowns, their is a much greater chance that you will be relying on supporting muscles to pull the load. In many cases your biceps will get more of a workout than your back will. It may seem counter-intuitive that lowering the weight will help you grow, but that lighter weight will help enhance your mind-muscle connection, creating greater tension where it should be… your lats!
about Upper Back Workout For Mass

Case Study: 75 Pound Body Sculpting Transformation

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Nancy Duffy is on a mission to release the 75 pounds that she gained in the past 7 years. Her story is not unlike any other. The demands of a hectic work schedule, under active thyroid, chronic back pain, among other lifestyle pressures have taken their toll on her body. Thankfully, she reached her breaking point or “ROCK Bottom” as they say… and she hasn’t looked back.

For the past 6 weeks Nancy has been making some tremendous progress while following the Metabolic Masterpiece body sculpting workouts. The great news is that she has been documenting the entire process. Sharing the raw emotions that she experiences along the way. Her hope is that by sharing her journey others will become inspired to take charge of their health and strive for their true potential.

Watch this video through it’s entirety to become inspired by the initial hurdles that Nancy has faced. The look on her face when she steps off the scale is worth 1000 words. The last two minutes are VERY POWERFUL… don’t miss it!


Note: If you can’t see the embedded video clip above.
You can watch it right on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HuQIAEd9f4

about Case Study: 75 Pound Body Sculpting Transformation

The Inspiration To Enter My First Bodybuilding Contest

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Never in my wildest dreams did I ever envision myself entering a bodybuilding contest. Frankly, the thought of stepping on stage wearing nothing but teeny tiny posing trunks frightened me. But beyond the fear was a lack of desire. There was no reason for me to compete… Until now.

Motivational Fitness Quotes

This shift in mindset took place exactly 12 months ago when my friend, role model, and mentor Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle and The Body Fat Solution came to visit us. After putting me through a grueling leg workout like I’ve never experienced before, Tom and I took a walk along the riverfront to get some of the lactic acid out of our legs. It was during that walk that Tom planted the seed of entering a bodybuilding contest into my mind.

Tom saw potential in me. He ignited a burning desire within me like I’ve never experienced before… and he did much more than that. He fed my belief system with examples of lightweight competitive bodybuilders who won the overall competition even against the heavyweights.

This was the moment when I first began to think like a Physique Artist. Tom started talking about the importance of symmetry, proportion, and balance. It was all about creating an optical illusion where a smaller guy (like me), could look more impressive than a guy who weighed 50 pounds more.

Thanks to these words of encouragement the doors of possibility had been swung wide open for me, but I still wasn’t quite ready to take that step outside of my comfort zone. I was content with following through with my goal of getting ripped six pack abs for my 36th Birthday and capturing that moment in a photo shoot.

That photo shoot made me realize that I did indeed have what it takes to sculpt a physique worthy of displaying on stage. But it also made me realize that if I was serious about competing I would need to put on some muscle. So I spent a few months focusing on gaining lean muscle mass. This was a whole new experience to me. It seemed like I had spent an eternity trying to get ripped and never dedicated any time to building muscle. It was exhilarating to see how my body responded and began to fill out. This elevated my confidence to a whole new level.

After gaining muscle I booked another photo shoot where I would capture my physique even more ripped than ever before. I decided to treat this “cutting phase” as if I was preparing to step on stage and compete. I really showed myself what I was made of and gained a great deal of insight into how my body responded to a bodybuilding contest diet. This experience built up my belief system so much that there was no looking back. I was going to compete… no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it.

Now it was time to search for a contest, so I began to ask my physique artist friends on Facebook, which natural bodybuilding contests they recommended. In the end, I decided upon the UFE Halloween Mayhem event on October 27th, 2012.

A short time later, local competitive bodybuilder Joey Flores suggested that I enter the Fouad Abiad Open on October 6th, 2012. That gave me three weeks less to prepare, but I was willing to accept the challenge. I was a little nervous about competing in a non-drug tested event, but I wanted the experience under my belt.

I still had a bit of fear in me, mainly because I had never attended a bodybuilding contest before. I really didn’t know what to expect. So, logically, my next step was to go see one. I drove two hours to watch the UFE Showdown… what an amazing experience!

The feeling of being in an auditorium surrounded by hundreds of like-minded women and men dedicated to sculpting their physiques and living to their fullest potential is indescribable. I felt “at home”. Like it was meant to be.

Pre-judging was general admission so I scoped out the theater for a great seat. I ended up sitting next to a BEAST of a man, competitive bodybuilder, and one heck of a great guy Adam Headland. We had some great conversations that really made me appreciate the bodybuilding culture.

I also got to see a highschool friend Maxine Deschenes compete for her first time in the female physique category. It’s pretty interesting to see so many of my friends in their mid to late 30’s deciding to enter bodybuilding contests. What is it that ignites this desire to compete at this point in our life?

When I sit back and think about the main reasons why I’ve become inspired to enter a bodybuilding contest, here’s what comes to mind…

Why I Decided to Enter a Bodybuilding Contest

I’m a competitor and always have been. A bodybuilding contest brings out the competitive spirit in me where I strive to do and become my very best.

Throughout my transformation journey this past year I have adopted the mindset of a Physique Artist with a focus on continuous growth and improvement. I have reached a point in my journey where entering a bodybuilding contest just makes sense. It’s a way to expand my comfort zone, to discover more about who I am, what I’m made of, all while striving to discover my true potential. It provides me with a great purpose. Something to train toward while living my life to the fullest.

I view my training as an art form and my body as a work of art. I am a Physique Artist… The bodybuilding competition stage is like an art gallery where I can display the hard work and effort that I have put into my craft… in hopes of inspiring others by the beauty of body sculpting.

It’s an event that ties into my transformation goal. Scheduling an event around your goal will make it more concrete, creating more urgency, and adding more emotion to the process.

bodybuilding contest

I’ve become hooked on the process itself. It’s fascinating! I find great joy and happiness in the pursuit of self growth. Participating in the event itself is going to be absolutely incredible, but it’s everything leading up to the event where the greatest joy is experienced… and the journey will not end when the event is over. The path will lead me forward to even greater adventures.

It’s good for business. Unlike some fitness experts I prefer to walk the talk. I am a walking billboard for what my physique training programs are capable of producing. I receive a great deal of satisfaction through leading by example and witness others become inspired to take their body and lifestyle to the next level.

Simply for the love of the sport. I feel at home with the bodybuilding community. The support. The environment/atmosphere. The energy. The passion. It’s all contagious.

So there you have it. Off the top of my head, those are my main reasons for competing and the journey that brought me up to this point.

As of today (July 29th, 2012) I am 10 weeks out from winning my first bodybuilding contest… the Fouad Abiad Open held in Windsor Ontario on October 6th and 13 weeks out from winning my 2nd bodybuilding contest… the UFE Halloween Mayhem held in Hamilton Ontario on October 27th.

I will be recording every step of the process… the meals that I eat, the workouts that I perform, my thoughts and emotions, and every bit of the experience in the Metabolic Masterpiece Inner Circle with my fellow MM Physique Artists. I will be sure to share clips of the process here on the Metabolic Masterpiece blog too in hopes of that you will gain some valuable insights from my journey.

If there are any details in particular that you would like me to share, please do not hesitate to ask. Thank you for sharing this journey with me. You ROCK!

Sculpt a Masterpiece,

Scott Tousignant

PS Here are my current stats…

Competing in the lightweight division in both events
Height: 5’7″
Current weight: 157lbs
I’ll share photos and videos of my current conditioning in the next video in this series (very soon)
Body fat%: Don’t care… I train for looks and bodybuilding contests are judged on how you look, not what number shows up on the scale.

About The Author

lose fat and gain muscle Scott TousignantScott Tousignant, BHK, is a Certified Fitness Consultant with a passion for transforming fitness enthusiasts goal driven, dedicated, and voracious physique artists who take pride in their body, fitness, health, and lifestyle. Embraced by physique artists around the world, his Metabolic Masterpiece Body Sculpting Programs will guide you through the process of sculpting your body into a work of art, by applying what Scott has coined, The A.T.T.R.A.C.T. Formula.

With his synergistic, boredom busting body sculpting workouts you will melt stubborn fat and gain muscle while skyrocketing your metabolism!

The art of molding and chiseling an aesthetically pleasing physique with ideal proportions and spectacular symmetry is one of life’s most rewarding and fulfilling experiences. It’s an opportunity for self growth and self discovery that will impact every area of your life.