Tony and Roman Talk Superheros and Fat Loss

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A few days ago I promised everyone an interview with my good friend John Romaniello, who just released his new product, Superhero Fat Loss.

As is the case every time he and I get together, shenanigans and tomfoolery are had, but you’re also going to learn a thing or two as well.

What IS SuperHero Fat Loss?

Read more below…….

TONY: First things first: I know it’s no coincidence that you’re releasing SuperHero Fat Loss the same week as what’s arguably going to be one of the most colossal (and nerd-tastic) superhero movies ever – The Dark Knight Rises. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being you’d rather eat a bowl of tofu while watching The Notebook, and 10 being you’re going to pee yourself), how excited are you to go see it?

ROMAN: You are as wise as you are strong, Tony. There’s certainly no coinydink—the timing is intentional.

Regarding Dark Knight Rises…before I can answer your question, I have to address your scale. I really liked The Notebook. A lot. So, let’s not put that at 1 on the scale. Let’s use something like Twilight. Which I’d still watch. Just not while eating Tofu.

That said, I am more pumped about this movie than I’ve been for anything in a long time. The storyline they are basing this one on—Knightfall—is on of my favorites of all time. Nolan will do a great job with it.

And, just to show you what a true geek I am: I have tickets for the midnight showing on Friday, and then an afternoon showing on Sunday. Saturday, I will sit around and process the awesomeness of the first showing.

TONY:  And here I thought I was a true fanboy for buying my advance ticket for the Sunday matinee!

Last year you released The Superhero Workout, which earned you a lot of praise for its uniqueness and overall appeal to the masses.

Just to throw it out there, the entire Cressey Performance staff did all four phases and LOVED it.

Sequels are generally notorious for not living up to their predecessors (Ahem: Matrix Reloaded). Some, however, actually trump the original (X2 comes to mind here).

Having already perused the workouts beforehand, I can attest that Superhero Fat Loss  is going to rock people’s world and will be considered a bona fide blockbuster. Outside of the obvious – fat loss – can you delve into some of the differences between this program and it’s predecessor?

ROMAN: Great question! I’ve been getting this one a lot. Firstly, I’m not sure I consider it a sequel. It’s more a prequel, in the sense that, since most people tend to want to lose fat before they gain muscle, SHFL is probably the program I’d recommend doing first.

TONY:  Ahh, I get it. So this is more like X-Men Firstclass (which didn’t suck)!  Touche, sir.  Touche.

ROMAN: Exactly! SHFL and SHW are completely different programs. As they serve very different goals, they require a fundamentally different approach.

If I had to break it down, SHFL is 90% fat loss and 10% muscle gain, whereas SHW is only about 25% fat loss and 75% muscle gain (with a full dedicated mass program).

Now, they DO approach programming in a similar way: periodization via a phasic set up starting with strength, moving to strength and ending with a hybrid program. However, because of the different intention of the program, everything from the exercise selection to the structure of the workouts is different.

TONY:  Awesome. I had a few people ask me how SHFL was different from SHW, and this answers it.

Nutrition. The X-factor to fat loss or not?  Can you provide maybe 3-5 “Roman Approved” tips that people can implement today that will serve as a nice adjunct to this program?

ROMAN: Nutrition isn’t the “X” factor – it’s the ABC Factor! If you don’t have nutrition covered, you’re pretty much screwed, at least when comes to fat loss.

As for tips…it’s hard to break down nutritional theories into sound bytes, but, I’ll do my best.

1. The first would be to try everything. Try paleo, try fasting, try carb cycling. See what works for you. Try everything—then decide if it’s necessary. Decide if the benefit is worth the sacrifice, and vice versa.

2. The second would be to just man up and measure your food. Just do it for 2-3 weeks. Do it until you develop an understanding of how much you need to eat. I know some coaches get all huggy and tell you they have a way where you don’t need to count calories. Bullshit. If you really want to get lean, you have to do some math.

Note from TONY:  for those who still don’t think measuring food is worth the effort, watch this video made by Leigh Peele a few years ago.  This should shut some people up.

3. Thirdly, pretend I said something wise. Seriously. Pretend I said something inspiring and mind-blowing and profound. Instead, chances are I would just tell you to take more fish oil. Or drink more water. Or something you’ve heard a thousand times before…but that’s dumb. Because you know all that.

But I want you to think I’m awesome. So, come up with something ground-breaking, something that will change your life and get you the results you want. Then pretend I said it. If you know that you said it, it’s worthless, since we rarely take our own advice. Instead, pretend I dropped this pearl of wisdom, and it’ll work out for both of us—you’ll get results, and I’ll get some credit.

TONY: One concept I’ve always tried to instill with my clients – especially those whose focus is fat loss – is that the main objective of exercising should not be to solely “burn calories” and train until you can’t feel the left side of your face.

But rather, the objective is to MAINTAIN as much muscle mass as possible.

To that end, I’ve always been a fan of low(er) rep training to provide the stimulus the body needs to preserve as much lean body mass as possible.

I know you agree – since you incorporate low-rep, strength based training into the SHFL Program – but can you explain to my readers why this is such a crucial component that many tend to neglect?

ROMAN: Interesting question. I think most people just don’t get how important it is. They don’t realize that if you don’t spend time trying to stay strong, than you’re going to spend even more time later on trying to get re-strong. Er…get strong again.

Put another way, they don’t realize that you’ll have to play catch-up, and spend time re-gaining what you’d lost.

I’m talking about this in terms of strength, but obviously this applies to maintaining muscle, as was the original question.

Use it or lose, it, right?

I have no idea why people avoid this – no matter what your goal is, there’s no downside to being strong.

TONY:  Right on! Thanks a ton Roman. Always a pleasure.

For those still reading, here’s the BEST part. When you pick up Super Hero Fat Loss this week, as part of the launch celebration, you’ll grab it for 50% off!

Today (Friday, June 20th) is the last day to take advantage of this offer. After that, if you’re going to fight crime – and look gooooooooood doing it – you’re going to pay full price.

—–> Superhero Fat Loss <—–

 

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Comments for This Entry

  • Brad

    Looks good, I'll definitely be checking the program out.  And "The Dark Knight Rises". Every so often I will spend a week measuring food to remind myself what a given measurement looks like, just to keep myself honest.  But one small issue I have with the whole notion of measuring intake down to the individual calorie is that last time I checked, I was a complex organic being, not an ashing oven or a bomb calorimeter.  There may be 47 calories in a given amount of peanut butter, but how do I know I am getting all 47 calories out of it?

    July 20, 2012 at 12:21 pm | Reply to this comment

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