One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that life has numerous challenges in store for each of us, some expected, some unexpected. Some are merely “speed bumps,” and others are like a brick wall. I’ve also learned that the mindset you use (or decide not to use) to face your life’s challenges has a powerful impact on your experience of life, the development of your character and courage, as well as your self image and self esteem. Through the process of completing a fitness or health program, like Body for Life, you’ll learn invaluable skills and undergo a great deal of training that will help you not only face but overcome your life’s challenges! Literally and metaphorically, you will learn to overcome resistance, improve your ability to creatively solve problems, and discover courage and character which, like a muscle, become stronger through proper training. Maybe life has knocked you off plan recently — you already know what to do, but need to start doing more of what you know. I want to use this opportunity to encourage you to get back on track and recommit to your healthy habits of consistent, intense exercise, eating right most of the time, and setting your mind in the right direction. Keep Going Strong ~Bill Phillips
Workout for Wishes LIVE with Bill Phillips
ALL NEW: Workout with Bill Phillips – LIVE!
Keys to Eating Right: Lose Fat & Build Muscle
Exercise is important and so is nutrition. Yes, we all know that we should eat right but knowing is not enough… it’s knowing and doing that transforms us. One of the reasons it is such a challenge to change our eating habits is because those patterns are deeply engrained. When you look at how many years you’ve spent developing those patterns, it can add up to decades. It’s not going to take that long for us to get back on track with healthy eating if we follow the right approach. Watch my video at the link below and learn more keys to eating right: Back to FIT Nutrition
The only way to truly fail is to quit trying
I was at a book signing at a Barnes & Noble store in Wichita, Kansas. A healthy 34-year old woman named Kimberly introduced herself. Somewhat sullen, she asked if I could write some encouraging words in her book, explaining that she’s tried several times to complete my 12-week Program but had “failed” each time. “Failed?” I replied. “You look wonderful!” She explained that through her efforts she had lost 15 lbs. of bodyfat and increased her muscle definition and energy. But again she explained that she had “failed” because each time she tried to complete the 12-week Program, something would come up and she would fall off track. What I explained to Kimberly, and what I want to share with you, is that as long as you keep trying, you will never fail. The only way to fail is to quit trying. Setbacks offer opportunities to learn and grow and improve. And I need you to see PROGRESS as SUCCESS. Focus on what you have achieved not on what you haven’t. Give yourself credit where credit is due — celebrate any and all progress and build momentum from each little step forward. Keep your chin up and have faith in yourself and my program. You can and WILL succeed as long as you keep trying… that much I can promise you! ~Bill Phillips
Don’t Believe This Lie Going Around about Exercise
I have been teaching people the benefits of weight lifting and of intense interval aerobics for more than 20 years. Six million Body-for-LIFE books were picked up by readers around the world and many of them put my quick, effective workouts to work with good results.
Now even though I am an advocate for interval workouts, I find the attached article absurd and borderline offensive. In the write up, a person who claims to be an expert on fitness, makes the claim that ‘cardio’ causes cancer, heart attacks, and increases in bodyfat.
The FACTS clearly show (facts backed up by thousands of published studies) that virtually ANY exercise is better than no exercise. Brisk walking, jogging, swimming, can all be safe forms of cardio-vascular and cardio-respiratory exercise. I want everyone to enjoy the benefits of physical activity–it is the best medicine there is for living longer and living better.
One meta-analysis published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Rehab looked at 33 studies with 883,372 total test subjects… researches determined that people who do cardiovascular exercise (‘cardio’) live much longer than people who don’t. “All-cause mortality was reduced 33%.”
If the topic is ‘over-training’ or doing extreme amounts of exercise, you can do that with weights, with intervals, or excessive jogging or running. Over-training is NOT the same as ‘cardio.’
Just because I am a lifter and sprinter, I would NEVER claim that it is ‘my way or the highway.’ Minute for minute, my intense workouts probably give you the best return on your investment of time in the gym… but that does not mean there aren’t many other healthy ways to get active! If you’ve read the attached article or heard other so-called experts claim that cardio causes obesity, cancer, illness, don’t believe it!! Common sense and science tell us this writer is dead wrong!
Click Here to Read The Controversial Article Titled, “Does Cardio Make You Fat?”
Fitness Supplement Q & A
Q: I have a question for Bill — I used your EAS supplements and got great results when I was in my 20’s. Now I am 40 and need to lose about 35 lbs of bodyfat while I build my muscles back up. I wonder what supplements you are using these days. What can you tell me about your Right protein shakes, Strongevity Rx, and your GH10x supplements? Should I start with one of these or all of these? What do you suggest?
A: What I recommend is that people approach supplementation in this order: First, make sure that you’re getting the full spectrum of essential vitamins and minerals every day. Also, make sure that your body has an ample supply of the high quality protein it needs to recover from your workouts. I get a lot of my protein and vitamins from meal replacement nutrition shakes. 24 years ago I introduced the nutrition shake MET-Rx to the fitness world and a few years later developed the EAS Myoplex line of meal replacements. Literally millions of athletes and fitness buffs have used these products to fuel their muscle performance. One of the great things about high quality nutrition shakes is that they are so rich with nutrients while still being low in calories. This makes them an ideal solution for people who want to get fit and strong while also losing unhealthy bodyfat at the same time. 
Myoplex was a great product in its time but today we know even more about protein science and how to filter out the highest quality, most pure protein powders and this is what I use in my new RIGHT nutrition shake. You will not find this in MET-Rx or Myoplex. Right Complete Protein Shakes are built on state of the art nutrition science — up to date for the year 2015. Some of my previous formulas at EAS have not increased in quality over the years and the formulas have changed possibly in the opposite direction. I always recommend starting with RIGHT Complete Protein Shakes to make sure that you’ve got your essential nutrients covered.
The next level of supplementation would be adding STRONGEVITY Rx to your workouts and healthy meal plan. This breakthrough formula includes the scientifically proven effective supplement micronized creatine monohydrate, ubiquinol, and ubiquinone forms for CoQ10 (which medical research has shown works synergistically and additively with creatine), and the biologically active form of Vitamin D3, called Cholecalciferol. These are three key nutrients that when taken together will increase muscle strength, mental energy, and improve recovery time. STRONGEVITY Rx is a supplement that not only helps you get better results faster from your workouts but it is also a longevity formula – studies show that these nutrients help improve both quality and quantity of life and so I especially recommend STRONGEVITY Rx to people over 40 who are working out and transforming their health.
Level 3 supplementation is the next step up. This is only something for people who are already working out consistently, eating healthy, getting their protein and vitamins each day, and supplementing with the cellular energy nutrients in STRONGEVITY Rx. GH10x is that next tier product which helps our health and fitness through a different pathway. Gh10x can increase our body’s nitric oxide levels which increase blood flow to muscles and therefore help more nutrients and oxygen be delivered to hardworking cells. Gh10x also helps support the natural growth hormone response we get when we workout following a high intensity interval method. Natural Growth Hormone plays a key role in helping us lose fat and build muscle, and beyond age 40 our natural levels decline significantly. Anything we can do to boost them back up naturally can give us big benefits. Unlike synthetic growth hormone injections, natural GH boosters have no side effects and are much less expensive than the pharmaceutical products. Another benefit of GH10x is that is also contains key amino acids that help volumize muscle cells which helps to give the body that firm and toned look and feel.
In summary, first make sure you are working out hard and consistently. Next, eat healthy, balanced meals. Then, add the Right Complete protein nutrition shakes. After that, you can get better results faster from your workouts by adding in Strongevity Rx. Once you feel that you have all those basis covered, then consider GH10x to take it up a notch. ++ To learn more about Bill Phillips Fitness Supplements visit www.EatingRight.com
Body-for-LIFE Bill Phillips’ New Fitness Program
Body-for-LIFE author Bill Phillips has a New Online Program
A New Look at Bill Phillips’ Lower Body Workout
Lifting free-weight dumbbells is an incredibly effective and efficient way to work the major muscles of your body. The lower body workout I teach at my Transformation Center is all done with dumbbells. The exercises which make up this routine blast the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. When we use the proper form it also strengthens the core, improves flexibility and builds stabilizer muscles which support the knees, ankles, and hips. This lower body workout includes three variations of squats — it is absolutely the best exercise for lower body work and it also is incredibly good for calorie burning and cardiovascular health improvements. This workout is the exact approach that I have followed to rebuild my leg muscles after a brutal injury I suffered a few years ago. This workout works and it’s simple (not easy) to do.
I used this Lower Body Workout to rebuild my leg muscles, at age 50, after an injury which ruptured the quadriceps tendons on both legs.
With this ‘5-25 Intense Interval Strength Training’ workout I can stick with the same weight for all 5 sets (as opposed to ‘pyramiding’ or increasing weight for each set as we did with Body-for-LIFE). The way 5-25 is designed we reach ‘progressive resistance overload’ (needed for positive muscle adaptations) through fatiguing the muscles more with each set. By your 5th set of 10 reps for each muscle group your muscles will be thoroughly cooked, and that is good!
Lower Body Workout
1. Dumbbell Squats — 10 Reps 2. Straight-Leg Deadlift — 10 Reps 3. Dumbbell Sumo Squats — 10 Reps 4. Standing Dumbbell Calf Raises — 10 Reps 5. Narrow Stance Dumbbell Front Squat — 10 Reps Complete all 5 exercises, 10 reps of each, with no rest between. After you’ve completed all 5 exercises, rest 2 minutes and then repeat the cycle. Aim for the completion of 5 times through the cycle in approximately 25 minutes. ++This workout can be done with a number of different exercise combinations. For example: 10 reps of barbell squats, followed by 10 reps on the leg extension machine, 10 reps of leg curls, 10 seated calf raises, and 10 reps on the leg press machine. There are many different combinations we can put together to get an excellent high intensity strength training workout for the lower body. ++Never sacrifice good form to lift more weight. Doing the exercises with proper form and lifting the weights slowly and under control is even more important for those of us over 40. The great results from working out consistently come over time. Injuries are setbacks that throw us off track. Good form is one of the keys to keeping your exercise program going and producing great results. 
Dumbbell Squats
Starting Position: Hold two dumbbells at your sides, with your palms facing in. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. The Exercise: While keeping your chin up, bend your legs at the knees and lower your hips until your thighs are parallel with the floor. Then, pushing from your heels, lift yourself back up to the starting position. Breathe out on exertion. Take your time — go lower and slower to fully work the leg muscles.
Straight-Leg Deadlift
Starting Position: Stand up straight, with your feet shoulder width apart and a dumbbell in each hand, your palms facing towards the front of your legs. This is a terrific exercise for the hamstrings, and it helps strengthen the lower back. The Exercise: Bend forward at your hips, and slowly lower the dumbbells in front of you, keeping the weights very close to your legs, until the weights almost tough the floor. Then, while concentrating on the muscles in the back of your legs, raise your upper body and the weights to the starting position. Roll your shoulders back, keep your chin up, take a deep breath and then repeat the exercise.
Dumbbell Sumo Squat
Starting Position: Hold a single dumbbell or ‘kettle bell’ in front of you. Your feet should be pointed out diagonally at about a 45 degree angle. Stand with your feet double shoulder width apart. The Exercise: While keeping your shoulders, back, and head upright, bend your legs at the knees and lower your hips until your thighs are parallel with the floor. Then, pushing from your heels, lift yourself back up to the starting position. Keep your back as straight as possible throughout this exercise.
Standing Dumbbell Calf Raises
Starting Position: Start by holding a dumbbell in each hand, with your palms facing the sides of your hips. Stand with your feet half shoulder width apart. Keep your feet parallel with each other. The Exercise: Keeping your legs straight, raise up on the ball of your feet. When you get to the top hold it for a count of one, then slowly lower to the starting position.
Narrow Stance Dumbbell Front Squat
Starting Position: Hold two dumbbells at your sides, with your palms facing in. Stand with your feet half shoulder width apart. The narrow stance will make the quadriceps muscle groups work even harder than regular squats. The Exercise: While keeping your shoulders, back, and head upright, bend your legs at the knees and lower your hips until your thighs are parallel with the floor. Then, pushing from your heels, lift yourself back up to the starting position. Keep your back as straight as possible throughout this exercise. Breathe out on exertion.
A New Look at Bill Phillips’ Upper Body Workout
At my fitness center in Golden, Colorado we have numerous exercise machines, and even though we have been open for years, they’re all virtually brand new. That’s because they’re hardly ever used. We have dozens of dumbbells and they’ve each been lifted over 10,000 times. Free weight dumbbells are a very smart choice, especially for those of us over 40 who need to be careful not to put unnecessary stress on tendons and ligaments during the workout. Dumbbells give us the leeway to find the right groove, where the muscles work hard and the connective tissue isn’t damaged in the process of getting stronger. Dumbbells also work more stabilizer muscles than machines, and you can find them at virtually any fitness center – even while traveling. My home gym is a workout bench and dumbbells.
Once you learn the basic free-weight exercises for the major muscles of the upper and lower body, you can use these for life. The whole idea that muscles need a novel stimulus to adapt has been misinterpreted over the years to think that muscles need completely different exercise. It doesn’t need variety as much as they need intensity. The adaptations are caused by overload. If you have a habit of working out in a comfort zone, you can go from one workout to the next; one set of exercises to the next and still not create any novel stimulus. The important thing is to learn how to workout hard and push yourself out of your comfort zone. In Body-for-LIFE I called this the High Point Training Technique — in a nutshell it means pushing yourself during the workout — giving it your very best effort and then reaching down deep inside and giving it even more.
Following my recommended workout will make your muscles get stronger, help you burn fat faster because your metabolism goes up (for as much as 30 to 40 hours after your workout), improve your cardio-pulmonary health, help your heart get stronger, and even give your brain more energy!
The keys to tapping into all these benefits and more is to do weight lifting in intense intervals where we work hard for a couple minutes then rest two minutes, then work, rest, work, rest, and work, rest again. We want to get our heart rate up to 90% to 95% of our estimated cardiac maximum (220 minus our age: for me that means I am aiming for about 160 heart beats per minutes at the end of my work sets–then I rest for a couple minutes until my pulse comes down to about 120).
On my 5-25 Upper Body Workout I do the 5 exercises shown in this blog. I do 10 reps of each set. I do one set right after the other, with no rest. After I complete 10 repetitions of all 5 exercises, I wait a couple minutes (this is just enough time for a training partner to go through their 5 sets if you’re working out with somebody) and then I repeat all 5 exercises for a total of 5 times.
With this ‘5-25 Intense Interval Strength Training’ workout I can stick with the same weight for all 5 sets (as opposed to ‘pyramiding’ or increasing weight for each set as we did with Body-for-LIFE). The way 5-25 is designed we reach ‘progressive resistance overload’ (needed for positive muscle adaptations) through fatiguing the muscles more with each set. By your 5th set of 10 reps for each muscle group your muscles will be thoroughly cooked, and that is good!
Upper Body Workout
1. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press — 10 Reps
2. Iron-Cross Raise — 10 Reps
3. Dumbbell Rowing — 10 Reps
4. Standing Dumbbell Curls — 10 Reps
5. Dumbbell Triceps Extension — 10 Reps
+ This upper body workout can be done with alternate exercises for each muscle group. For example: barbell bench press, followed by dumbbell shoulder press, then wide grip lat pull downs, preacher bicep curls, triceps push downs. At my Transformation Center I like to teach people how to do the whole routine with just dumbbells and a bench as many of them workout at home after leaving my Transformation Camp. For those who workout at a commercial gym, they can choose different exercises as shown above. Some people like to change the exercises up every 4 to 6 weeks and that can help them stay mentally stimulated by the workouts and perhaps offer some physiological benefit as well. I stick with the same exercises shown in this blog month after month, and I continue to get excellent results. I keep my workouts very simple — the key for me is hitting a high level of intensity during the lifts.
+ People who have been successful with my 12-week programs over the years are those who take the time to think through and plan their workouts ahead of time. Below is an example exercise worksheet that I give people at my fitness center — it allows them to plan and record information about their workouts. They make notes before and after each workout. When their records show that they can consistently complete 10 reps of a certain weight with good form, I recommend they increase the weight approximately 5 lbs. for their next workout. Make a note of anything you can think of which you can do better for your next workout, and you’ll be constantly improving.
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Starting Position: Sit on the edge of an incline bench. Pick up a dumbbell with each hand, place them on your thighs, and then one at a time position them at the base of your shoulders. Lean back, get firmly situated on the bench and you’re ready to go.
The Exercise: Press the weights up to a point over your upper chest and hold them there for a count of one. Then, inhale deeply as you lower the weights to the starting position. Hold the weights in the bottom position for a quick count of one, and then exhale as you drive them back up. Lock your elbows in the top position.
Tip 1: Don’t set your bench at too steep of an incline, or you’ll work your shoulders more than your chest. The incline should be about a 35 to 45 degree angle.
Iron Cross Side Raise
Starting Position: Stand upright, with your feet about shoulder width apart and your arms at your sides. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, your palms facing your hips.
The Exercise: Keeping your arms straight, lift the weights out and up to the sides until they are about level with your chin, and hold them there for a count of one. From this position, lower them slowly back to your sides. It’s important to keep your palms turned downward as you lift the dumbbells so your shoulders, rather than your biceps, do the work.
Tip 1: Don’t lean back and “swing” the weights up. Lift them straight out to your sides until they are almost directly out from your shoulders. In the top position it looks almost like a gymnast doing an iron cross on the rings.
Tip 2: Don’t lean your torso forward and bring the dumbbells down in front of your body. Instead let the weights down at your sides.
Dumbbell Rowing
Starting Position: With a dumbbell in each hand and your feet shoulder width apart, bend forward at the waist so your upper body is parallel with the floor. Let your arms hang straight down, palms facing each other. This is a great exercise for the latissimus dorsi muscles of the back as well as the rhomboid, trapezius, and rear deltoid. All the muscles in the legs have to work on this one as well.
The Exercise: Pull the dumbbells up, concentrating on getting the elbows as high as they can go. After you’ve rowed the dumbbells up as far as you can, slowly lower them to the starting position.
Tip 1: Resist the temptation to lift your torso up as you raise the dumbbells — try to keep your back flat and your torso parallel to the ground.
Standing Dumbbell Curls
Starting Position: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and your arms extended down at your sides. Hold the dumbbells with your palms facing forward, keep your chin up, chest out, and shoulders back.
The Exercise: Take a deep breath, then curl the weights up towards the shoulders in an arc. Exhale as you lift the weights (on exertion). During the curl, keep your upper arms and torso still — there will be some movement but avoid swinging the weights up (a very common mistake). Let your biceps do the work. Then, lower the dumbbells slowly to the starting point.
Tip 1: Don’t lean back or forward as you lower the weights. This reduces the amount of work the biceps are getting.
Dumbbell Triceps Extensions
Starting Point: Stand with your feet shoulder with apart and your knees slightly bent. Grasp one end of a dumbbell with both hands (palms up), and raise it above your head.
The Exercise: Bend your arms and slowly lower the dumbbell behind your head. Keep your elbows relatively close to your head and pointed straight up throughout the exercise to keep the focus on your triceps. Lower the weight until you feel a stretch in your triceps, hold for a count of one, then press the weight back up, following an arc so you don’t bonk the back of your head. Keep lifting until your arms are locked out and the dumbbell is again directly over your head.
Tip 1: Don’t hold the dumbbell like a sandwich. Place your palms so they face the inside end plate of the dumbbell, with your index fingers and thumbs touching.
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Notice: I’ll give detailed instruction on how to do the lower body workout this week here on my blog at http://www.BillPhillipsNews.com
Urgent News for Right Light Customers
Urgent News for Bill Phillips Right Light Customers
Good News: Earlier today our Right Light nutrition shakes, our cellular energy supplement Strongevity Rx and our product GH10x got picked up by the world’s largest online health-food retailer and they want to order all the product we have in our warehouse and more, so they can offer our supplements to their huge customer base.
Concern for You: Before we fill their order, I wanted to give YOU a chance to stock up while getting $120 of Free supplements in the process. I have set aside a 12-week supply of our products for myself and my wife Maria because we use 3 servings of Right Light a day, everyday, and if we run out it would really throw our healthy eating routine off track. Please plan ahead and make sure you are stocked up on Right Light and Strongevity Rx especially.
To Stock Up Now Visit: www.EatingRight.com
Get $120 of FREE Supplements to Help You Build Muscle, Lose Fat!
Stock up on Right Light while supplies last and we will give you 24 servings FREE (2 bottles at 12 servings each, valued at $70) when you order eight bottles. I’ll also add to your order, for FREE, a 30-serving bottle of STRONGEVITY Rx, our cellular energy supplement, valued at $50. That’s $120 worth of FREE supplements when you stock up with 8 bottles of chocolate and/or vanilla Right Light. That offer is good for everyone who stocks up in the next 24 hours. (You won’t see your bottle of FREE STRONGEVITY Rx on the invoice but I will personally make sure that it is shipped with your order of Right Light.)
To Stock Up Now Visit: www.EatingRight.com
*BEST DEAL: You get 4 FREE Bottles of Right Light and 2 FREE bottles of STRONGEVITY Rx (a $240 value for FREE) if you stock up with 16 bottles (12 servings each) of chocolate and/or vanilla Right Light.
Bill Phillips Fitness News 