[0:00] Drinking is one of those things that not
[0:02] a lot of us want to give up entirely. It
[0:04] is a factor and it's a big one. What's
[0:06] up guys from CavalereathleteX.com.
[0:08] So, you got some stubborn body fat,
[0:10] especially right here around the
[0:11] midsection. You want to get rid of it
[0:13] and all you're going to need is a
[0:14] mirror. I want you to look in the mirror
[0:16] because I want you to be able to answer
[0:17] the four questions that I'm going to ask
[0:19] you. Honestly, what this is, it's a lack
[0:22] of doing the right things often enough.
[0:24] And if you do the right things more
[0:26] often, you can go from here to here. And
[0:29] likewise, if you did the right things
[0:32] really often, almost all the time, you
[0:35] could do this. But I talked about this
[0:37] before. This isn't what everybody wants.
[0:39] And I'll give you the real honest answer
[0:41] why. Because not a lot of people want to
[0:43] do everything it takes to get here. In
[0:45] other words, they don't want to have to
[0:46] have the level of consistency and
[0:48] commitment and maybe foregoing some of
[0:50] the other things that are required to
[0:52] get here. This might be good enough, but
[0:54] the good thing is you're going to be
[0:56] able to tell what you need to do to get
[0:58] to whatever level it is that you're
[0:59] looking for. Drinking is one of those
[1:02] things that not a lot of us want to give
[1:04] up entirely. And you may not have to.
[1:06] Again, it depends on where you are in
[1:08] terms of where you're starting and where
[1:10] your goal is. The question, where do you
[1:11] sit right now? Because it is a factor
[1:13] and it's a big one. If your answer is
[1:15] no, well, congratulations. This is not
[1:17] one of the issues that's causing you to
[1:19] have any remaining fat that you're
[1:21] trying to get rid of. But the answer is
[1:23] yes. Well, then you got to ask yourself
[1:24] a few more questions and that is how
[1:26] many times per week are you drinking? Is
[1:28] it one to two times or is it more than
[1:30] two times? Right? Then the next question
[1:32] I ask is how much each time and be
[1:35] honest. Again, no one's listening to
[1:37] your answers other than you and I
[1:38] talking here. But how much each time?
[1:40] Let's say you do it one to two times per
[1:43] week and you have one to two glasses of
[1:44] wine or mixed drinks or maybe two to
[1:46] three beers in a sitting. That's about
[1:48] four to six beers in a week or maybe two
[1:50] to four glasses of wine in a week. Now,
[1:53] is that okay or not okay? This is okay
[1:56] if you're trying to get to that level
[1:57] of, let's say, a flat stomach. But if
[1:59] you want to get to that ultra ripped
[2:00] condition, then this is not going to be
[2:02] okay. If it's more than this, then
[2:04] again, it's not okay even to get
[2:06] yourself down to that flat stomach. If
[2:08] you're doing it more than two times a
[2:10] week, well, guess what has to happen? If
[2:11] it's more than two times a week, well
[2:13] then the consumption levels have to go
[2:14] down. It can't be up to two glasses or
[2:16] three beers. just got to come down to
[2:18] one glass of wine and maybe two beers at
[2:19] most at a sitting. So in total over the
[2:22] course of a week, you're ingesting less
[2:24] alcohol. And of course, if it's more
[2:25] than above, then it's not okay again.
[2:27] But the fact is here, guys, let's say
[2:29] you're at a given level of body fat
[2:31] right now and you are drinking. If
[2:33] you're trying to go lower, then go lower
[2:35] on your consumption of alcohol. There's
[2:37] no instance where drinking here is going
[2:39] to be beneficial to you in the long run
[2:41] if you're trying to decrease your levels
[2:42] of body fat. So the next thing we have
[2:44] to focus on is actually very closely
[2:46] related to drinking and it's the other
[2:48] stuff that we put in our bodies and we
[2:50] want to look for a caloric deficit
[2:51] because we know that in order to lose
[2:54] body fat we have to create a caloric
[2:56] deficit. However, my first question
[2:58] would be to you is are you or are you
[3:01] not creating one? If the answer is yes,
[3:03] it's not an instant congratulations
[3:05] because I have something listed over
[3:06] here and that is are you doing it
[3:08] responsibly or you doing it
[3:09] irresponsibly? There's a big difference
[3:11] guys. irresponsible is crashed diets, is
[3:14] consuming a very low amount of calories,
[3:16] is excluding certain macronutrients
[3:19] because you've heard they're bad for
[3:20] you, i.e. carbohydrates. Long term,
[3:23] that's not going to work. And long term,
[3:24] it's going to do more irreversible
[3:26] damage and more for setting your mind in
[3:29] a wrong place in terms of how you look
[3:31] at food in an unhealthy way. That's
[3:33] going to cause you to not succeed. So,
[3:35] in that case, it's not okay. If it's
[3:37] responsible, meaning two or 300 up to
[3:39] 500 calorie deficit per day through your
[3:42] intake of food, then I would say that's
[3:44] okay and you're doing the right thing
[3:45] and your pursuit of a flatter stomach or
[3:47] more rift condition. If the answer is
[3:49] no, I have three follow-up questions.
[3:52] The first one is, are you eating clean?
[3:54] And any trainer out there who's ever had
[3:57] to ask this question has probably heard
[3:59] the answer many, many times before, and
[4:00] that is, yes, of course, I'm eating
[4:03] clean. And then my next question would
[4:04] be, well, really? And then the answer is
[4:07] yes, of course I'm eating clean. And
[4:09] then my answer would be like, no, but
[4:11] seriously, we're friends. You can tell
[4:12] me. Eating clean is actually eating
[4:14] healthy. And eating healthy is something
[4:16] that you do on a regular basis. It's not
[4:18] something that you're doing temporarily
[4:20] or that you even put a name or a label
[4:22] on it. You just do it. And you eat more
[4:24] healthily. You understand what foods
[4:25] comprise a healthy diet. So, when we're
[4:28] there, then you got to talk about
[4:29] portion control because if you are
[4:31] eating really healthy and you're eating
[4:33] the right foods and you're not excluding
[4:35] macronutrients like we talked about
[4:36] before, and that's portion control. How
[4:38] big are your portions? And you know how
[4:40] big they are. Are they bad? Are they
[4:41] good? Right? If they're bad, you got to
[4:43] fix it. You got to stop eating two
[4:45] plates of everything. You got to look at
[4:47] how you can divide your plate
[4:48] responsibly. I put a whole video
[4:49] together on how to divide your plate so
[4:51] that you can know you're getting it
[4:52] right every single time. I'll actually
[4:54] link that video for you. This is what it
[4:55] looks like. I'll make sure I link it for
[4:57] you at the end of this one so you can
[4:58] get a grasp on how you can divide your
[5:00] plate and get this right every single
[5:02] time. It's actually very very easy to
[5:04] do. But let's say you're doing that
[5:06] right coming down to this last element
[5:08] here and that is your consistency
[5:09] levels. And this is where I think things
[5:11] tend to fall apart. But you have to be
[5:14] willing to answer the question and
[5:16] define for yourself how low you want to
[5:18] go. Where do you want to ultimately be?
[5:20] So I say, what's consistency?
[5:21] Consistency means how often are you
[5:23] straying from your healthy eating plan.
[5:26] If it comes down to having a cheat meal,
[5:28] I'd say you're okay. You're certainly
[5:30] okay to get yourself down from that
[5:32] belly to that flat stomach. Absolutely
[5:35] okay to do that. Can you have a cheap
[5:37] meal every single week and get down to
[5:39] that ultra rip condition sometimes if
[5:42] you're doing everything else right? And
[5:44] that's a big if. The thing is, you're
[5:46] more likely to get to that ultra rip
[5:48] condition if you're taking those cheat
[5:49] meals down to let's say every other week
[5:52] or certainly once a month. Okay. Now, if
[5:54] it's a cheat day, can you get down to
[5:57] that flat stomach? I have an issue here.
[5:59] I don't think you really can get down to
[6:01] that flat stomach consistently. By doing
[6:03] that, by having a cheat day every single
[6:06] week, you could do a lot of damage in a
[6:08] single cheat day that can undo a hell of
[6:10] a lot of good that you've been
[6:11] accumulating over the course of the rest
[6:12] of that week. And finally, if you're
[6:14] having a cheat year, my question would
[6:15] be, are you Jesse? I mean, do you ever
[6:18] eat right? Because honestly, guys, if
[6:20] you're never willing to have consistency
[6:21] here, then we already know what the
[6:23] issue is. You're never going to maximize
[6:25] the results that you see there and be
[6:27] doing everything you can possibly be
[6:29] doing if you're not supplementing your
[6:31] training along with your nutritional
[6:33] improvements. The first thing I'm going
[6:35] to start with is your cardio and
[6:37] conditioning. Because a lot of people
[6:38] will do this. They get a little bit less
[6:40] food that they're taking in. They're
[6:41] creating a caloric deficit and then
[6:42] they're jumping on an elliptical and
[6:44] they're trying to burn a few extra
[6:45] calories. Why is that never the most
[6:47] successful way to do this? Because
[6:49] you're not building muscle doing that.
[6:51] And building muscle is going to be your
[6:53] absolute best friend when it comes to
[6:55] creating an easier job for your body to
[6:58] get to lower levels of body fat and most
[7:00] importantly to maintaining them. muscle
[7:02] being much more active tissue is going
[7:04] to metabolically help you even at rest
[7:06] to get to that lower body fat level and
[7:08] maintain it and even go beyond what it
[7:10] is you thought you were capable of.
[7:11] Cardio and conditioning while important
[7:13] for your heart isn't necessarily the
[7:15] best option. However, if the answer is
[7:17] no, I don't do anything or even yes, I
[7:20] do do cardio and conditioning, my next
[7:22] question always becomes what's your body
[7:24] fat level? Because your body fat level
[7:26] is going to give me the best
[7:28] recommendation from there. If you're
[7:30] less than 15% for men or less than 25%
[7:33] for women, then I would actually say to
[7:35] you if you want to make some additional
[7:38] drops in body fat levels, increase your
[7:41] cardio and conditioning to two to four
[7:43] times per week. However, if you're above
[7:45] 15% for men or maybe even 20% for men
[7:48] and you're above 25% or 30% for women,
[7:52] I'm not necessarily recommending that
[7:54] you focus here. I'm not saying don't do
[7:55] this. I'm just saying this is not going
[7:57] to have the biggest impact for the two
[8:00] reasons I just said. Number one,
[8:02] nutrition is always going to be your
[8:03] bigger play here. And number two, you
[8:05] should be doing this prioritizing
[8:07] nutrition and weight training. Okay?
[8:09] Because weight training should always
[8:10] come as your focus when you're try when
[8:12] you're at higher body fat levels and
[8:14] you're trying to get down your cardio
[8:16] then come in second to this. Okay? But
[8:18] again, weight training, yes. How often?
[8:21] How many times per week? Less than three
[8:23] times. Up it up it more. Three to five
[8:26] times is where I want to see you be
[8:28] everybody. If the answer is no, of
[8:29] course start three to five times per
[8:32] week. Then we go over here and this is
[8:33] kind of the holy grail here where we
[8:35] kind of get to a chance to mix the two
[8:37] and that is complexes. Are you doing
[8:40] complexes? Yes. Great. Are you doing
[8:42] complexes? No. Start two to three times
[8:45] per week. So the complexes are where we
[8:47] combine compound movements into one flow
[8:51] so that we can do like a barbell row
[8:53] into a hang clean into an overhead press
[8:56] into a front rack reverse lunge things
[8:58] like that where we can actually move a
[9:00] lot of muscles in one coordinated
[9:02] movement flow. You're going to build
[9:04] muscle here and you're going to burn
[9:06] calories and it fits into this realm of
[9:08] weight training and it fits in nicely
[9:10] inside of this three to five times a
[9:12] week training. So, even if you're doing
[9:13] standard weight training and strength
[9:15] training, you can fit your complexes
[9:17] into those workouts, too. Which brings
[9:19] me to my fourth and final question here,
[9:21] and that is about your ab training. If
[9:23] you do this guys, again, if your first
[9:24] answer is no, I don't do any of it, then
[9:26] my answer would be, hey, start now. And
[9:28] it's not just that, not just your rectus
[9:30] abdominis, your six-pack, but it's your
[9:31] entire core that I want you to work,
[9:33] which I'll get into in a second. If the
[9:35] answer is yes, I do it, then my next
[9:36] question would be, how many times per
[9:37] week do you do it? And if you say three
[9:39] or less, then my recommendation is going
[9:41] to be to do more than three. You see, I
[9:43] believe in even up to daily ab training
[9:45] for no more than 10 minutes at a time is
[9:48] incredibly impactful when it comes to
[9:50] losing body fat. You're probably
[9:51] thinking, "Wait a second, there's no s
[9:53] Jeff, what have you lost your mind?" No,
[9:54] I'm not talking about spot reduction of
[9:57] body fat. I'm talking about the visual
[9:59] impact and the side effect that training
[10:01] these muscles will have on your overall
[10:03] outlook as you attempt to get closer to
[10:07] that goal of yours, whatever it might
[10:08] have been, the flat stomach or
[10:10] incredibly ripped. You see, because at
[10:11] even higher levels of body fat, when you
[10:14] train the muscles underneath, you will
[10:16] actually see them and you can see the
[10:18] upper abs, you can start to see the
[10:20] upper obliques, but you're not going to
[10:22] see anything if you haven't taken the
[10:23] time to be dedicated to training those
[10:26] muscles. So, I want to see increase the
[10:28] consistency here because not only that,
[10:30] I found a second effect from doing this.
[10:32] When you can commit to just a five
[10:34] minute routine or seven minute routine,
[10:36] we've got plenty of them up on YouTube
[10:37] here. That sometimes is the impetus to
[10:40] get you going. You're like, you know
[10:41] what? I can do this for seven minutes.
[10:43] I've done it now 10 days in a row. I've
[10:45] done it 20 days in a row. I've done it
[10:46] for a month straight. I like to see the
[10:48] results I'm actually seeing here. I'm
[10:49] getting encouraged by this. And that in
[10:51] of itself provides additional motivation
[10:53] to allow you to get the other components
[10:55] here right. you're starting to eat well
[10:56] more consistently. You're starting to
[10:58] increase your training. You're starting
[10:59] to do all those things right. You're
[11:01] decreasing your drinking. Everything
[11:02] starts to fall in place. Do not neglect
[11:05] the importance of separate ab training
[11:07] when it comes to the overall approach to
[11:09] getting to those lower levels of body
[11:10] fat. So guys, remember when it comes to
[11:13] dropping body fat levels, the most
[11:15] important thing you can do is look in
[11:17] the mirror. Like I said, not to identify
[11:19] where you're having a problem. We
[11:20] probably already know that. I'm talking
[11:22] about to answer these questions honestly
[11:24] because it's only then that you can
[11:26] actually start to make progress. We all
[11:28] have areas that we need to work on,
[11:29] guys. Me included. The thing is though,
[11:31] you got to get honest with yourself
[11:33] about where it is that you're falling
[11:34] short right now because when you do and
[11:36] you can start to address those areas,
[11:38] that's when you start to make some big
[11:39] progress. That's when you start to go
[11:41] from here to here. And that's where you
[11:43] can go from there to here. It's all a
[11:45] matter of the levels of sacrifice that
[11:46] you're willing to make and the level of
[11:48] consistency you're able to do that in.
[11:50] If you're looking for a program, guys,
[11:51] that makes this a lot easier to follow
[11:53] than you think, we include meal plans
[11:55] and step-by-step workouts. You can get
[11:57] them all over at athletics.com. If
[11:59] you're looking for a program that will
[12:00] help you with the core training aspect
[12:01] of it, we have our core for abs program.
[12:03] Again, that's available at
[12:05] athletics.com. The fact is, guys, I'm
[12:06] just looking for you to become more
[12:08] consistent in what you're doing right
[12:09] now to get to a better place than you
[12:10] are right now. If you found the video
[12:12] helpful, leave your comments and thumbs
[12:13] up below. Let me know what I can do for
[12:14] you in the days and weeks ahead. I'll
[12:16] make sure I do those. And if you haven't
[12:17] already, guys, click subscribe and turn
[12:19] your notifications so you never miss a
[12:20] new video when we put one out. All
[12:21] right guys.