Hi Everyone!
I just wanted to drop an e-mail and show you a few videos detailing how my and I Tommy’s mass building workouts have been going. The first first video is especially interesting because it shows you a new form of a standard bicep curl that recruits 60% more muscle fibers then the traditional curl. Let me ask you…who doesn’t want bigger and leaner biceps’s? The beach is this way…
Only the Best,
Howie
Life is full of big disappointments but I’ll never forget my first one. I was fourteen years old, it was a bitter cold day in Chicago, probably record setting. But…the below freezing temperatures were the last thing on my mind. The only thing I was thinking about was a ride to the local gym. I begged my mom and dad to give me a ride, and because they are such good parents, they did. As we pulled up to Gator’s Gym in Bridgeview Illinois a handmade sign read, “Closed, too Fuc*king Cold”. My plans for a bigger chest and broader shoulders were gone for that night.
Gator’s was owned by a former professional boxer with one leg (no joke). There were broken steroid needle in the bathroom, missing dumbbells on the rack, and a tattoo parlor in the back. It was truly exquisite. It was where I first learned about the best form of exercise ever created…resistance training.
If you sit down with Yoga Joe he will tell you the Yoga is the best way to a better body. Pilates’s Pete will tell you the same thing about his mode of activity. Although both can be great forms of exercise and even considered by many to be forms of resistance training, but they are not the best. In my opinion, if you want a better body in the shortest amount of time possible, it’s 70 percent diet and 30 percent free weight and body weight training. Nothing breaks down muscle fibers more, and promotes a faster metabolism better than this type of training. This is true for men and WOMAN.
Progressive resistance training integrating compound, isolated, and functional lifting, mixed with high intensity intervals, will give you the best physique in the shortest amount of time possible. For every pound of muscle you gain you automatically burn 60-80 calories per day just by doing nothing. It gives your body structure, balance, and integrity. Also, if you measure Jane Doe’s heart rate during a Cat Yawn Yoga Pose and a set of Romanian Stiff Leg Dead-lifts, you can bet the ladder burns more calories. Again, nothing against Yoga, I just have to stick with what I believe.
As I embark on my 5 weeks of gaining 10 lbs of pure muscle, I wanted to let people know that this pursuit is not about big bulky muscles. It is about about building a body that anyone whoever felt good about wearing a pair of Seven jeans knows; I built a life around the teachings of weight training through One Body. And…don’t worry Tommy, if it gets too cold, I have a key.
Hugs and Kisses,
Howie
It’s time for yet another physique changing mission for Howie Machek. As
always I’m out to prove that the principles for my book can change your body for
the better. This time around I am following the “MUSCLE BUILDING” phase of my
book. Through this segment I will be writing about the importance of muscle,
why strength training is the best form of exercise, the use of muscle building
supplements, the proper diet for this change, and probably a few rants about
nothing to do with muscle at all.
As I partake on another 5 weeks of hard core diet and training , I have to
decided to make it a little more interesting for my readers. I have invited a
former client and friend to join me in this challenge. He will join me for my
workouts as well as follow the diet and supplement plan created for One Body
clients.
The catch is that Tommy is about 15 years younger then me. So it will be the
high testosterone teenager versus the better looking 33 year old professional
trainer. Will my experience be any match for my young buddy’s determination to
grow muscle’s like Arnold? Only time will tell. God I love this stuff!!
Below is our before pictures and beginning measurements. All I know is I plan to
put on
10-15lb of pure muscle in the 5 weeks! Also listed below are some of the
basic principles we plan to follow to help get us to our goal. Good luck kid !
You’ll need it!!
1. We will be working out with weights 3x per week using basic compound
movements such as the squats, dead lifts , dumbbell bench press, and body
weight pull -ups
2. We will include protein with every meal and strive for 1 gram of protein per
pound of body weight every day.
3. We will drink about .5 ounces of water per pound of body weight.
4. We will get 7-9 hours sleep per night to help release that helpful hormone
testosterone.
5. We will supplement our diet with EFA’s, creatine, amino acids, and whey
protein.
6. We will ALWAYS take a post workout shake that includes simple carbs and
protein to aid in muscle recovery.
7. We will incorporate High Intensity Interval Training as our only form of
cardio . This will help maintain our hard earned muscle mass as well as keep our
body fat levels in the single digits.
8. We will take ice cold showers every day. There has been research suggesting
that the use of ice baths and cold showers will increase testosterone levels.
9. We will eat a good combination of nuts every day including brazil, almond
,and walnuts.
10. We will drink two glasses of Malbec per night.
Who said that?
Let the games begin!!!
P.S – I’m the better looking one.
Age: 33 Weight: 181lb Height: 6'1 %Body fat: 8.7%
Age: 19 Weight: 175.2lb Height: 6'2 %Body Fat: 9.3%
What better way to start the New Year than with a great transformation. Just about 5 weeks ago Lori decided to make a change in her diet and life. She followed a 1,200 calorie program, worked out at One Body 2 times per week, and did cardio 3 times per week on her own. The results are shown below. Lori you did it! I’m very proud of you.
The best part is she’s not done! She’s going to keep on the program. This is why I opened One Body. This is why I’m here. Thanks Lori.
Stay tuned for the next phase of my NEW personal transformation.
Before
After
Keep it up Lori! You’re almost there!
- Howie
The main reasons that I created this blog was to promote what I think is the best personal training studio and diet plan in the Midwest! To prove my point, I followed the principals in my One Body book to lose almost 20 pounds. (See blog archive). Very soon, I plan to pack on about 10 pounds of pure muscle mass in 5-weeks and document the whole thing! Along the way, I also plan to keep documenting the latest and greatest of fitness and nutrition out there, to find the real truth of what works and what doesn’t. This most recent video is an interview with very special young man who means a lot to me. I asked him to speak a few words about why he goes to One Body. There is something special about being 11 years old. I believe you tend to speak from the heart and less from what society wants you to say. Charles is a very hard working and motivated kid. He has been training with me for almost 4 years and I enjoy every second of these sessions. I never really told Charles or his mom why I like him so much so I thought I would share it in this blog. Charles reminds me a lot of myself, we both have an abundance of extraordinary thoughts and ideas swirling around in our brains and we usually express it via our hearts and our physical fitness. It’s that simple. Please enjoy the video.
The One Body Cast
The focus in fitness these days is functional exercises. These are exercises that simultaneously use multiple muscles and joints to improve muscular endurance, overall strength, coordination, balance and posture. It’s a challenging, effective and fun full-body workout. It also prepares the body for everyday, real world activities.
You might be toned, but are you ready to lift your toddler out of his car seat or hoist the spring water bottle onto the dispenser?
Conventional weight training isolates muscle groups, but it doesn’t teach the muscle groups you’re isolating to work with others. The key to functional exercise is teaching all the muscles to work together rather than isolating them to work independently.
So what’s an example of a functional exercise? Pushups, Back Extension, Lunges, Squats, etc. Did you know there are 256 muscles being used when you do a squat? Shocking, I know!
In functional fitness, most of the time, you should be standing on your own two feet and supporting your own weight when you lift anything. To get started with functional fitness, you might want to forget about the weights entirely at first. Most people can’t even control their own body weight. Once you can control and balance your own body weight, then you can start working with added weights.
Other popular tools that promote functional exercise are things like stability balls, Bosu balls, wobble boards. They force you to work your core to keep your body balanced while you’re lifting a weight.
So should you abandon the weight machines at the gym for a program that’s all about free weights and balance? Not necessarily.
If there are isolated weaknesses, they’ll cause a detriment in functional movement. If you don’t address them, strong muscles get stronger and the weak ones stay weak. If you blend the two together, functional exercises teach isolated muscles how to work together.
Functional exercise is much more neurologically demanding than machine exercises. You can’t do functional exercises with the same levels of intensity and short rest periods as machine exercise.
Your set ends when you can no longer perform the exercise with perfect form.
So start out slow and have fun. Train the “ONE BODY” you have to take care of you for life!
Cheers,
Tami Moog
P.S. – Check out my “before” and “after” pics on this site!
BEFORE- 190lb
Cheers,
Howie
“Before” 6’1- 188lb- 12.5% Body Fat
"After" 6'1- 172lb- 7.3 % Body fat.
OK, so I woke up this morning and made my girlfriend take this picture of me. I made it! I followed the principals of my book and did workouts (the same workout’s given at One Body) for 5 weeks and transformed my body. I went from 188lbs at about 12% body fat to 171lbs at exactly 7.2 % body fat in 5 weeks.
The first two weeks were very hard, but eventually my body got used to the restricted calories and my food cravings diminished. The hardest part for me were my workouts. As you know food is our energy and with 1,200 calories my energy wasn’t always there. But I was determined to keep pressing forward and “muscle “ through the 5 week program.
Even though my body wouldn’t let me reach my goal of losing 20lbs I still lost 16lbs and learned a ton in the process! I never wanted to put a book out there and not know every aspect from front to back. I now have lived through this and know what it takes to eat 1,200 calories per day. My next step is to take a week off and just follow my 1,700 calorie maintenance program and then pick up my book again to follow my muscle building program that is also included in the One Body book.
This transformation gave me another idea to help people. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is as motivating as giving yourself a challenge and then it posting all over the internet. I wonder what would happen if I propose this challenge to others using this blog??????
The average weight gain for the holiday seasons is about 8 pounds. There are only 3 holidays in this season and even a sumo wrestler can’t gain weight that fast. So, as always it comes down to a lifestyle change and not really what we do on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. I thought I would hop on the Thanksgiving “Health Tip” band wagon and give you a perfect scenario for the days events. You can always just ignore all this and just be good the other 362 days per year! Happy Thanks giving my friends…
Eat Breakfast - This is especially important on a Holiday morning because good breakfast eaters tend to not overeat later. Let’s be honest , there’s a lot of over eating to be done on Thanksgiving.
Go easy on the Alcohol - As my book states, “It’s not really the calories in alcohol but what it does to the metabolic system that can destroy your metabolism”. Forget my book second, alcohol has 7 calories per gram and will tend to make us overeat if we drink too much of it.
Don’t eat the skin - For a 6 ounce serving of turkey, taking the skin off saves about 300 calories. Believe it or not it doesn’t make much difference if you go white or dark meat as long as you toss the skin.
Watch potion size - This should probably be #1! Just like my book says,” Eat until you are satisfied and not stuffed”. Controlling portion size is the only thing in the world that is proven to increase life expectancy. Go ahead and throw that stat out to Grandma over dessert.
Take a 30 minute walk after dinner with family.- It’s about as unusual as seeing people praying together at a crowed restaurant, but it happens, I have seen it. Both practices may be unusual but both are right.
Today I simply give thanks to my 28 clients. Thanks for believing in me. It takes a lot to shell out money these days. Without you guys we wouldn’t be here. We promise, we won’t let you down.
Love,
Howie
