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I have been ready about the blueprint for almost a week now. It's alot to take in. I had never lifted weights before April of this year (accept for physical therapy) and I find the BP requires my to forget most of what I have spent the last few months learning.

Here's my background.....

I worked heavy labor since high school. About 9 years ago at age 23 I injured myself at work and after going through almost a year of PT I ended up with the herniated disc with belateral tears at L3-L4 and L5-S1. At his time I decided to change careers and ended up in a desk job in 2006. I am 6'-2" and when I injured myself I weighed 195 with no idea what my BMI was as I was not concerned. By the time I fininshed PT and a 1 month long in-pateint treatment program I had already inflated to 215. At tyhe begining of this year I was at 248 and I had so many excuses for not doing anything about it. Some excuses were valid others were simply excuses.

I had just finished renovating my basement and now my wife and I have a nice home gym consisting of a bowflex revolution and an octane fitness elliptical. Having 2 small children makes it hard to find time to go to a gym even for a 1/2 hour. Since april I have managed to drop 35lbs and my wife has lost 40lbs. We had purchased a fancy scale to measure BMI and I am aware there are more accurate methods but I was only really concerned with repeatabiity as I have been using it to gage myself. Since April thate scale has shown a change from 248lbs and 30%bf to 210lbs and 20%bf. I gotta tell ya I dont feel "sick" anymore. We were doing a mix of Aitkins and another ebook a co-worker had given to me.

Reading the BP has really explained alot of what I was feeling at different points in the last 4 months. I don't think I could find these explainations in one place anywhere else. I was not able to increase my weight one week and the next week I had to back up. I figured I just needed some energy to get me through the workouts. It worked the first week or so but then I felt worse. I went on vacation and came back a week later feeling twice as strong. If I had read the BP I would have understood why.

I have read alot about diet and lifting in the last 4 months and I have to say at first glance this seemed to be the most unbelievable and least viable. I was very hesistant to drop $50 on a pdf. I have taken the last week off and order "the stack" I plan on starting my famine monday. I will stick with the entire plan as long as I am still feeling confident I can do so.

I would like to ask if anyone has performed an entire cycle using a bowflex revolution and if so did you feel limited by its performance or max weight? Also, has anyone had their wife tag along while they were training with the BP and is the BP going to help my wife in her weight los goals?

First things first - WELCOME aboard and we're happy to have you here!

Next, I appreciate you INVESTING in your lifting education. For now, you'r surrounded by some GREAT minds here, who are all too willing to help you.

You and your wife have done a GREAT job in losing weight, shaping up and laying the groundwork to begin The BP. While elements of such may not be for her (or even you), there is something for EVERYONE in 2.0 and/or 3.0.

With respect to bowflex/workout out with the wife: ABSOLUTELY, it can be done. I'm assuming your goal isn't to be a world champion bodybuilder/powerlifter. Provided that's the case, virtually any form of progressive resistance will allow optimal gains. I can say this given the fundamentals (progressive overload, volume of work and frequency of workouts), can still be manipulated.

Now, the difficulty will likely come in if looking to boost 1RM via a loading pattern found in 2.0, etc.. However, it would seem to me that cutting/re-comp is the goal here. In that case, 3.0 Roadmap to Re-Comp is your ticket.

EDT blocks can be effectively arranged with a Bowflex/like apparatus. It's the static hold work (SCT - Static Contraction Training), that may prove problematic.

In SCT, your ability to hold MAXIMAL poundages will likely FAR exceed, the resistance provided by the bowflex. Still, there may be workarounds.

Some creativity will be required, but it can be done. If you'd like to throw out ideas here, I'll be happy to critique. As an idea, there are some great deals you can get in on (Planet Fitness, of all places) has some very reasonable membership fees, wherein you could get some quick static hold work in before/after work, or even at lunch. We're talking a few minutes here, not hours.

Thereafter, the EDT block portions of 3.0 could easily be performed at home.

A final option would be to avail yourself to a customized plan/phone consultation, as I do provide these services.

Either way, I'm here to support you 100% on your journey. The HIIT cardio/GABA/caloric zig - zags and related information in 3.0 alone will work wonders for you. For more information on that, please listen to my interview last week on SuperHuman Radio, found here:

https://www.superhumanradio.com/componen ... ow_769.mp3

There is a TON on great information here, that will likely benefit you.

Hope that helps!

Nogod, I have a bowflex ultimate that I used for several months with some good results when I started back lifting about 10 months ago. After about 3-4 months tho, it was obvious that I was quickly progressing to where I had gotten all the use I would be able to out of the machine as there was not enough weight.

Starting out, I would say its OK, but within a few months you will likely need to either invest in some weights or get a gym membership. Personally I prefer the gym membership as they have a lot more equipment than you would likely be able to get or even have space for.
For a female, I think it would likely be OK as they will probably not reach the point where they would need more weight as quickly, if ever.

I understand the results seem too good to be true with the BP, but trust me they are not. Here is a sample of the poundage increases from 1 run start to finish I had(actually a 3-4 week run interrupted by 2-3 weeks of gout/ankle problems, followed by a full 6 week run):

Dips: +65 lbs(BW+15 to BW+80)
1 Arm DB Rows: +45 lbs(55lbs to 100lbs)
Preacher Curls: +60 lbs(100 lbs to 160 lbs)
Seated Tri Press: +75 lbs(210 lbs to 285 lbs)--maxed out machine
Hamstring Curls: +50 lbs(120 lbs to 170 lbs)--2 from maxing out machine
Abs: +90 lbs(100 lbs to 190 lbs)
Squats: +120 lbs(395 lbs to 515 lbs)

Static Decline: +230 lbs(315 lbs to 545 lbs)
Static Shoulder: +200 lbs(225 lbs to 425 lbs)
Static Leg Press: +440 lbs(1080 lbs to 1520 lbs)

In addition I lost between 4-5 lbs going from 214 lbs to 209-210 lbs

Here is a post to my log, which is pretty detailed if you want to check it out...

https://bodybuildingsupplements.com/phpB ... &start=126

Always keep in mind, the reason most people don't get results with following the "pro" workouts is twofold:

1) They are not taking steroids, which allows muscle growth to still occur even in an over-trained and exhausted state(most people who lift weights 4 times a week are putting their bodies in a state of perpetual over-training)

2) They do not have freak genetics

I told Rob(I think its in my journal actually) that if he charged 10 times what he did for this program it would still be a bargain, and I sincerely meant it. I have been working out for a fairly long time off and on(10+ years) and I have never been through a program that has produced results like this one...

I definitely can't find time to lift outside of my home. Every hour of every day is accounted for. I have started famine today with a resting heart rate of 47 and a great attitude. The trackers in the 3.0 pack are absolutely helpful in organizing my diet and workouts.

Rob,

What advice to you have for helping my wife. She is much more interested in dropping weight than building muscle. Also, for a guy like me who can not make it to a gym the feast phase outlined in 3.0 is not as helpful as you already know. Are there plans for a tracker which would be ideal for someone like myself who does not have the means to perform the static holds? Spending another $50 for a personalized plan just isn't in my familly's budget right now even knowing it would be worth every penny.

Thanks guys

nogod wrote:I definitely can't find time to lift outside of my home. Every hour of every day is accounted for. I have started famine today with a resting heart rate of 47 and a great attitude. The trackers in the 3.0 pack are absolutely helpful in organizing my diet and workouts.

Rob,

What advice to you have for helping my wife. She is much more interested in dropping weight than building muscle. Also, for a guy like me who can not make it to a gym the feast phase outlined in 3.0 is not as helpful as you already know. Are there plans for a tracker which would be ideal for someone like myself who does not have the means to perform the static holds? Spending another $50 for a personalized plan just isn't in my familly's budget right now even knowing it would be worth every penny.

Thanks guys

I can understand the time things, my schedule is pretty compacted too...
You likely will want to look into getting some sort of free weight setup eventually for the house then...

You should be able to do static holds with the Bowflex...just loosen up the straps to where it is a few inches from your full extension and load up heavier weight than what you can do...

Thanks matter2003 but my 1 rep max for bench press is 230 and on the low end of the static hold scale 30% over 1 rep max is 300 lbs which is the limit on the BF Revolution. I need to stick with More conventional lifts as outlined in 2.0. Speaking of my bowflex adaptation, the revolution does not provide me with the means to perform squats. I have been supplementing leg press for squats (which by the way my one rep max is over the machines 600lb leg press capacity ) and seated rows dead lifts. I am hoping to join a gym by winter but I have to make it work with the bowflex. It's a great machine and pretty safe for my two little guys to be around. On the other hand I can always use more speed and reps as I don' feel I will need to bench more than 300lbs, or press more than 600. But feeling good is a bit addictive and when I get there it may not be enough.

Keep up the great work!

Where there's a will, there's a way. The bowflex is a GREAT piece of equipment.

REASON: You can hang more laundry on those power rods, than any other exercise machine!

I haven't even started the BP Robbie. The Bowflex Revolution doesn't use rods. -nogod taps the mic-"is this thing on?"

If I can get great results with body weight workouts then you can definitely do so with a bowflex.

You may want to use a scheme similar to mine..

I have 2 workouts that I do.

workout 1 Static holds workout +1 set to failure

workout 2 Pyramid scheme start with 1 rep rest 30 secs, do 2 reps rest 30 secs and repeat... for instance my pullups workout today consisted of

1reps,rest 30, 2 reps rest 30, 3,4,5,3,1 You could do something like this.
even when weight adjustment is an issue (since I only have bw) you can always adjust reps..

my first run I recomped something like 16lbs

+2lbs lean mass -14lbs fat. I dont have the exact numbers in front of me. but as you can see great results even with only manipulating reps.. this run should be much improved seeing as last run I only did workouts as sets to failure.

nogod wrote:I haven't even started the BP Robbie. The Bowflex Revolution doesn't use rods. -nogod taps the mic-"is this thing on?"

"Robbie"

I've been called worse, I suppose. My bad on The Bowflex revolution. I suppose I jumped the gun. Matter and others are corrrect, resistance (in whatever form), is all that's required. That's progressive resistance BTW, so adjust accordingly.

More than one way, to Gainsville!

I completed the 5 days of Famine. I didn't really feel any different other than being hungry until day five. My waking pulse was between 48 and 51 the whole time. On day five I started feeling week and the 6 day I started feast.

I actually started to feel sick during the first 3 days of feast. I wouldn't say I was really overeating too much but I feel I was eating far to many carbs and the symptoms that made me decide to diet and exercise started to come back. I have dialed back on the carbs and I am currently eating abbot 30/40/30 fat/carbs/protein and I feel much better.

I definitely needed to back off on my weights after famine. Even thought my resting hr never changed the workouts kicked my ass. I have gone back to my original workout routine which seemed to be working for me before but I would love to optimize it for use with the BP. I have been using two apps on my iPhone to track my diet and exercise. These apps are so easy to use which is a huge plus for somebody with little time and a limited amount of resources. Full fitness tracks my workouts and Lose It tracks my diet. Full fitness has a food tracker as well but I prefer the interface of lose it's tracker.

My work outs have been as follows:
Day 1

Bench press
3 sets 10 reps, 30 sec. Rest

Chest fly
3 sets 10 reps, 30 sec. Rest

Seated row
3 sets 10 reps, 60 sec. Rest

Shoulder press
1 set 10 reps, 60 sec rest

Bicep curls
1 set 10 reps, 60 sec. Rest

Tricep pushdown
1 set 10 reps, 60 sec. Rest

Calf raise
1 set 10 reps, 60 sec. Rest


Day 2

30 pushups

Bench press
3 sets 3 reps, 30 sec. Rest

Lat pull down
3 sets 10 reps, 60 sec. Rest

Leg press
3 sets 10 reps 60 sec. Rest

Shoulder press
3 sets 10 reps, 60 sec. Rest

Bicep curl
3 sets 10 reps, 60 sec. Rest


Day 3

Incline bench press
3 sets as many as I can

Bench press
3 sets 6 reps, 30 sec. Rest

Decline bench press
3 sets 4 reps, 90 sec. Rest

Seated row
3 sets 10 reps, 60 sec. Rest

Shoulder press
1 set 10 reps, 60 sec. Rest

Lying tricep extension
1 set 10 reps, 60 sec rest

Calf raise
1 set 10 reps, 60 sec. Rest

I usually as some other exercises at the end if I feel up to it or the kids don't need my attention. I was going 1 day on 1 day off but I now know I need a little more time off between. After 1 week off and then famine my 1 rep max on the bench press dropped from 230 to 200 and I'm hoping that will turn around soon.

Any thoughts. Thanks guys
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Completely natural and a function of the depletion workouts.

As supercompensation ramps up, you'll see traction take hold. Give it time, but usually by workout #3 of Feast, you'll be a very, very happy man.

You just get happier after that!

Hey nogod -

Honestly, any workout program can work within the feast phase, as long as you keep up the intensity and push for progressive overload.

My first run I used a program called GST (Growth Stimulus Training) and I had excellent results.

Best advice is pick something (like you have ), stick to it for feast, and max out that bowflex :p