At least once a week, I get an e-mail that goes something like this:
“I’m skinny and I need to gain muscle. But I want to get rid of my fat belly at the same time. What should I do?”
This involves asking your body to do two things:
Building muscle while losing fat.
It’s a goal considered by many as the “holy grail” of body transformation. But there’s a lot of debate over whether it’s even possible.
Tom Venuto thinks it is.
He’s put together The Holy Grail Body Transformation System, a new program designed to help you get leaner and more muscular, all at the same time.
At the core of The Holy Grail system is a nutrition plan based on something called nutritional periodization. You might also see it referred to as cyclical dieting.
What it involves is manipulating your calories in order to “zig zag” your way through periods of surplus and deficit, with the end result being muscle gain and fat loss during the same time period.
It’s designed to help you add muscle with minimum fat gain OR to lose fat while gaining some muscle along the way.
In the first part of the book, Tom explains the theory and science behind the program, and looks at some of the reasons why gaining muscle while losing fat is such a difficult goal to achieve.
Although Tom mentions a few studies, he doesn’t go over the top on the research side of things, which a lot of people find confusing (as well as mind-numbingly boring). There’s no scientific mumbo jumbo or endless waffle that you just end up scrolling through.
The Tyranny of Choice
Tom covers nutritional periodization and cyclical dieting — which is the real “meat” of the Holy Grail system — in the second part of the e-book.
You get a range of different options that cater for three different goals — fat loss, fat loss with muscle gain as well as lean muscle gain (if your primary goal is to add muscle, but you don’t want to gain any fat or you want to drop a little fat while gaining muscle).
Tom does a thorough job of explaining a number of cyclical dieting methods ranging from the 3:3 zig zag cycle to floating high carbohydrate days.
The number of cyclical dieting options available is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at things.
Personally, I like the fact that there are a few options to choose from.
But in my own experience, a lot of people, especially those suffering from “choice overload,” actually want FEWER options available.
There are so many decisions to make these days, not just when it comes to choosing a diet and exercise program to follow, but in life in general.
And sometimes it’s nice when someone else does all the thinking and tells you exactly what to do.
So there is going to be some “thinking time” involved where you’ll need to sit down and get clear on your goals before choosing which cyclical dieting strategy to use.
The only thing about the Holy Grail system that I found inconvenient was the meal plans, many of which involve eating five or six times a day. Although I used to be a “six meals a day” guy, I can’t say I noticed any difference when I switched to eating just three times a day.
My experience is also consistent with the majority of research on the subject, which shows no real advantage to more frequent eating. However, you can modify the meal plans to suit your own needs, so I don’t see this as a major obstacle.
Moving on to the the training side of things, The Holy Grail explains in detail what sort of resistance training program to follow, as well as how to incorporate cardio (both HIIT and steady-state) in your routine. There’s also a great 4-day upper-lower split routine, dubbed The New Bodybuilding (TNB), which alternates between strength and hypertrophy days.
The program uses mainly barbells and dumbbells with a few cable exercises. So if you’re someone who trains at home and you only have barbells and dumbbells to work with, you can easily modify the program to fit your needs. The only machines used are the standing and seated calf raise machines, and even those can be performed with free weights.
The only real issue I had was with one of the exercises — the Russian Twist — on the second lower body day. I think this is one of the worst exercises that’s ever been invented, mainly because of the potential for damage to your spine. I cringe every time I see someone doing it.
Summary
The Holy Grail is a research-based program that’s designed for anyone who is serious about getting leaner and more muscular.
However, losing fat and building muscle at the same time is NOT an easy goal to achieve and will require both patience and attention to detail. If you’re one of those “crazy busy” people who’s easily distracted and keeps jumping around from one training program to the next because you can’t make up your mind about what to do, the Holy Grail is probably not for you.
The Holy Grail isn’t designed for anyone with an “above average” level of body fat. If you’re a man with MORE than 20% body fat or a woman with MORE than 25% body fat, you’re better off with something like Burn the Fat Feed The Muscle.
But if you do qualify (and you’re prepared to put in some hard work) the Holy Grail Body Transformation System is an excellent book by a guy who understands exactly what it takes to burn fat and build muscle better than almost anyone else out there. Click to continue to the official site.
About the Author
My name is Christian Finn. I run a private "members only" website designed to help people burn fat, build muscle and get strong. If you want accurate, honest and in-depth reviews on the latest "hot topics" in the world of fitness, you're confused by all the conflicting advice out there, or you just want some training routines that will give you better, faster results, click here now to learn more about how I can help you.
