Implementing the advice shared on MuscleHack can have serious side-effects.
Happily though, they are AWESOME side effects!
I recently had the pleasure of reading through an email from a reader who experienced the following life-changing results:
- Weight from 280lbs down to 225lbs
- Cholesterol from 235 to 130
- High blood pressure down to normal levels
- More muscle
- More free time
- More productive
- An enjoyable lifestyle regarding food and training
Not bad, eh?
Josh Clymer is 36 years old from Minnesota, USA. To prove he’s a real person, this is his facebook profile.
Take a look at his pics and let’s see what he had to say…
“Hey Mark,
I purchased your Total Six Pack Abs book back in Mid-December of 2010 and I read each and every article you publish on your site.
A little background: I do not have the “normal” shirtless before and after photos because I did not get serious about my health to look good on a beach or compete in bodybuilding. The before pic I did include was of when I was 280 pounds, had high blood pressure, and high cholesterol etc.
I also included a photo after I was on your program for 13 months. I weighed 225 lbs, my cholesterol dropped from 235 to 130 (my diet consists of tons of red game meat and tons of eggs) and my blood pressure had fallen back to normal levels. The pictures are not great, however if you look at my face, you will see it is about half the size it used to be.
In high school I was a state champion wrestler and All-Conference football player. I also played Division 2 football for 2 years. I lost motivation to play football in college as it took too much of my time hunting, fishing among other activities.
I finished a Masters Degree in Engineering, but was in terrible shape. From the age of 20-32, I went from being extremely healthy, to a fat 280lb guy that got winded walking up a flight of stairs and struggled to bend over and tie my own shoe laces.
My biggest hobbies still included hunting and fishing, however due to my health, I was struggling to have the endurance to be able to do these activities. I am more of an extreme outdoorsman who will load 50-60lbs of gear on a backpack and climb mountains out west, sometimes 10,000 feet, sleeping in the mountains and hunting big game for a week at a time.
I needed to get back into shape or I was not going to be able to continue with these trips (as well as slowly kill myself). I spent hour upon hour in the gym and thought I was eating healthy outside of the gym, with little results to show for it.
I found MuscleHack while trying to figure out why I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. I liked your website, because I am a very data/fact driven person. You went against the grain on several theories; however you had the facts and data to back your theories up. I bought your book, and the rest was history.
I eat game steak and eggs almost every single day, bacon, cheese, etc. I spend at least an hour less in the gym and only focus on cardio 3 months before my hunting season to build my endurance for climbing mountains and experiencing less oxygen at 10k feet.
I’ve seen numerous testimonials of folks that have been extremely successful on your program, but I think several of them miss one important aspect which has benefited me more than anything: Your program has made me more productive. I estimate that since reading your book, I have spent at least 800 LESS hours in the gym while getting BETTER results, all while enjoying my diet and reducing the cost of useless supplements.
I watch people at the gym, and I almost feel sorry for them. They waste so much time, they either starve themselves or eat the wrong foods. I constantly recommend your book/website to anyone I talk to at the gym.
The simple purchase of your book made me much more productive, saved me money, and provided me with the knowledge necessary create a lifestyle I can enjoy.”
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Personally I love this testimonial as it typifies a MuscleHack experience. BETTER results in LESS time.
But I don’t think the overall weight loss does it justice. Josh obviously gained muscle throughout this period – his arms are looking huge in that after pic! So the weight difference was 55lbs, but actual fat lost would have amounted to much more, while lean body mass increased.
Josh also enjoyed the diet (who doesn’t like steak, eggs, cheese) while both his body and health improved beyond all recognition. Now that’s a plan you can make a permanent liftestyle and be happy with it!
If you are wondering, yes you can have carbs on TSPA. In fact, you can have more carbs on TSPA than you can have on MANS. And there are periods of high-carbs as well. The diet is pretty easy to live with.
Not to mention TSPA includes its own modified THT workout, which will see you put in less time at the gym and get faster results. There are 3-day, 5-day, and 6-day training options – you pick which one you can do to fit your own lifestyle – everyone can make this work.
Cardio? I don’t do any. Most TSPA’ers don’t either. I do include it as an option in the plan if you are so inclined. Even with this option, the most you’ll ever do is 20 minutes a few days a week.
If you’ve any questions about the program, don’t hesitate to ask me below.
And never forget to…
Train With Intensity!
Mark
Brilliant Big guy… Tspa/mans/glad all excellent dependant on what your goals are… Eating food like full fat cheese/bacon etc as opposed to low fat high carb crap is gr8! Cheers again Mark…
Hey Mark. Another great post. I am super keen to give TSPA a go but I love to run. Nothing crazy. Maybe an interval treadmill run once a week as well as a 5-6 km road run another day too. Would this pose a problem for my success on your program. Thanks. Justin. NZ (home of the mighty All Blacks).
Hi! I was trying to send you an email but couldn’t find one in your website so I’ll just leave a comment. I am a very skinny woman (20 yrs, 5.6 1/2 ft and 115 lbs). I have a little baby belly that I’m trying to lose. Every time I lose weight in my belly, first I lose weight every where else. I look too skinny but still have a little belly. I know I can get rid of that little belly in a week if I eat less and keep lifting weights. However, I don’t want to lose fat everywhere else in my body. Since losing some weight I look older (less fat in the face) and waay too skinny. I am lifting weights to failure and eat lots of protein. I haven’t seen much muscle growth since I started lifting 5 months ago but have seen some definition. Do you have any suggestions as to how I can gain muscle and lose belly fat but not lose fat everywhere else?
From my research, the only option is doing a belly liposuction. That way, the fat cells located in my belly won’t be there anymore and consequently my fat will go to other places that I’d like them to go. Do you have any better suggestions?
Thanks,
Angel
im 29, not 20
@Justin. That wouldn’t pose any problem at all, bud. Do that and forget the optional cardio in the book. All the best.
Hi mark I was just wondering the reason why you’re able to eat more grams of carbs on TSPA than on mans? I’ve been eating about 80 grams of carbs a day is all and that’s for bulking like on the MANS diet. I was just interested in what the advantages are to eating 30 grams a day for bulking rather than eating the amount I am now? I also carb cycle on Friday evening/Saturday by the way. Thanks I advance 🙂
@Angel. Have you ever tried low-carb, or have you only tried low fat?
@Michael. Because TSPA operates within the context of a calorie deficit (most of the time). MANS doesn’t. So we can have more carbs. There’s no need to eat as low as 30g carbs a day when cutting.
Hey All, I am the guy in the article.. Mark developed a great program that works, all you need to do is follow it. In my opinion, he makes it very simple to follow, it is just a matter of making a few easy calculations to determine how many carbs, protein and fat you eat daily. While I followed the program, I generally eat between 60-80 grams of carbs per day, as well as one “carb-up” day per week. As for cardio, one comment Mark made a long time ago that stuck with me, “if you do HIIT cardio correctly, you should barely be able to walk after the work-out.” I followed this theory, and if you push it hard enough, in 10-15 minutes you can barely walk. As stated in the article, for a portion of the current year, I need to have alot of endurance to walk up mountains and I am running miles upon miles each day. From my expereince, 10-15 minutes of HIIT cardio 3 times per weeks is MUCH, MUCH more effective for fat-loss, than running 3-5 miles per day at a steady pace. I am currently building my endurance for hunting, and I find running on a treadmill for 45 minutes to have little effect, other than endurance. The one story I find funny, I went to the doctor and got my physical after I had been eating tons of red meat and eggs. The doctor got my results and said “whatever you are doing, keep doing it.” I said “GREAT, all I eat is red meat, eggs, bacon, etc and I love my diet” The doctor immediatly told me I needed to change my diet, lol….
Completely agree. When I went on TSPA at 240 lbs, people were like you are crazy having bacon n eggs every day for breakfast, big hunks of meat for dinner. I’m down to 205 and eating all the stuff I love
You can obviously see this guys weight loss. In his before pic his shirt was untucked- and his belly was still out and leaking — in the after – his shirt is way tucked in – with a backpack on to pull the shirt back – and no gut hanging. This was for sure more than 55lbs of fat loss. I would estimate at least 70 – 85 lbs of fat lost.
Hey Mark, have you ever looked into the 80/10/10 diet?
Its vegan whole fruit and vegetable based. I have upwards of
600+ carbs a day and continuously stay lean. I even got a little leaner
upon starting it.
@James. No. Eating mostly fruit and vegetables (80%) can’t amount to a lot of calories, hence the weight loss. Plus 10% protein isn’t anywhere near enough for me or anyone trying to build muscle. In addition, 10% cals coming from fat comes to about 27g on a 2500cal diet for example; that would have a negative impact on testosterone levels. I like my fat and protein 😀
hey marl,
I bought tspa last November
I haven’t started the program yet 🙁
the problem is I am not able to find any protein in my vegetarian diet without including carbs
so what I am saying….what if my carb intake went twice or little less than twice ..then?
could I make my peace with it?
@abhishek. It shouldn’t be a problem for you eating within the daily carb total, even for a vegetarian. There are some sources of protein in this article
https://musclehack.com/how-to-build-muscle-on-a-vegetarian-diet/
Hey Josh!
Firstly, great progress, keep up the good work. Very inspirational.
I’m curious what you do for HIIT cardio.
I’ve only tried sprinting using the tabata protocol (20 seconds max effort, 10 seconds rest, repeat). While it gets kinda hard to breathe after ten sets, as well as running speed goes down dramatically, I can still walk haha.
Curious to know how you train, I’d like to give it a go
Peace
But i overeat on the carb calories with tons of fruit and still stay lean and ripped if not lose fat weight.