Body for Life



Body for Life is a 12-week diet and exercise program, and also an annual physique transformation competition. It was created by Bill Phillips, a former competitive bodybuilder and the founder of EAS, a manufacturer of nutritional supplements. It has been popularised by a bestselling book of the same name.

The first annual Body for Life competition was held in 1996. (It was then called the "EAS Grand Spokesperson Challenge".) Entrants write about their experience of the program, and send this to EAS along with their 'before' and 'after' swimsuit photos. Prizes vary each year, but in 2005 the first prize was US$1,000,000.

Body for Life makes use of principles that have been widely known in bodybuilding. Its differences are in the way it has been packaged and marketed so as to appeal to consumers and be understood by the public. It supports an extensive ancillary industry of gyms, nutritionists and personal trainers.

Nutrition
The Body for Life nutrition plan consists of six meals a day, each of which consists of a portion of a lean protein-rich food, and a portion of an unrefined carbohydrate-rich food. Some of the six meals include a vegetable portion as well. The vegetable is included for its dietary fiber and vitamin content, and to help bulk out the meal. A portion should be approximately the same size as the person's hand, either open or clenched into a fist. The meals should be spaced about every three hours.
 * "Approved" protein-rich foods include skinless chicken or turkey breast, fish, egg whites, low-fat cottage cheese, whey protein shake, very lean ham or beef etc.
 * "Approved" carbohydrate-rich foods include brown rice, whole grain bread, pasta, potatoes, oatmeal, fruit etc.
 * "Approved" vegetables include spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms etc.

The diet should be supplemented with a tablespoon per day of safflower, flaxseed, sesame or canola oil, perhaps in a salad dressing, to provide necessary Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential fatty acids. A popular alternative is a small handful of walnuts or almonds. Three portions of salmon per week is another alternative. At least 10 cups of water should be drunk throughout the day.

One day a week, typically Sunday, is considered a "free day," on which any foods can be eaten. This is considered an important "breathing space," both psychologically and physically.

At several points in the book, Phillips promotes EAS nutritional supplements. This attitude has attracted widespread criticism.

The diet program relies on key principles:

Increased protein
This is considered crucial in the program. Phillips' reasoning behind this is:
 * Unlike carbohydrates, protein provides long-lasting energy without an insulin surge (which promotes fat storage).
 * Protein is needed for the brain. If you are working on a master's degree, it is recommended that you have 200 to 300 grams of protein a day in order to understand and assimilate information. Without it, you are not able to handle stress or accommodate information.
 * Protein tends to suppress the appetite.
 * The lack of protein in your diet tends to increase stress and "turn little things into big things".
 * Protein is essential for building muscle.
 * Protein takes quite a bit of energy to digest, which boosts the body's metabolism.
 * Lean protein-rich foods are much less calorie-dense than carbohydrate-rich foods. For example, the ham in a common sandwich may have 343 kilojoules (kJ) per 100g, whereas the bread has 1011 kJ per 100g. Like vegetables, they help to bulk out a meal.

Reduced portion sizes
One reason that Phillips believes diets can fail is that weighing food and counting calories can be difficult. Phillips says estimating portion sizes by comparing them to the size of your hand is quite simple, potentially reducing mistakes and making it harder to cheat. Phillips also believes that because hand size varies by frame that the diet also adjusts naturally to the size of a person, without the need for complex calculations.

Eating more frequently
Carbohydrates provide the main energy source for the body, but three to four hours after eating there is little glucose left in the bloodstream, which can lead to symptoms of hypoglycaemia (although this is rare due to liver glycogen stores), including a slowing down of the body's metabolism. Phillips says frequent but small meals prevent this from happening, and also increase the metabolism slightly by keeping the body geared towards digestion. The overall insulin challenge is reduced, thereby reducing the risk of reactive hypoglycaemia and the risk of triggering diabetes.

Exercise
The human body adapts itself to changes in nutritional intake. If the calorie intake is reduced, the body responds by slowing down its metabolism, and by burning muscle in preference to fat. This reduces the metabolism long-term. When the diet comes to an end and normal calorie intake is restored, the individual starts to gain weight even faster than before. This is known as yo-yo dieting. Diets that focus exclusively on calorie reduction often fail in this way.

With these concerns in mind, Body for Life addresses energy expenditure (i.e. exercise) in addition to energy input. For best results, Body for Life holds that this exercise should include weight training to build skeletal muscle and increase the metabolism over the long term. This also helps to maximise the energy expenditure and fat loss from aerobic exercise.

Body for Life's exercise program is more complicated than its diet program. It suggests exercising six days a week, normally Monday to Saturday, and alternating between weight training and aerobic exercise. The seventh day, usually Sunday, is a rest day. Weight training sessions alternate between exercises for the upper body and exercises for the lower body. This allows the exercised muscles enough time to recover fully before the next training session.

Each fortnight follows the same pattern:

Intensity index
Body for Life uses Gunnar Borg's Rating of Perceived Exertion for assessing the intensity of exercise based on how hard you feel you are working. It uses the variant developed by the American College of Sports Medicine, which uses a scale of 0 to 10:
 * 0 is no exertion at all.
 * 2 corresponds to very light exercise. For a healthy person, this is like walking slowly at their own pace for several minutes.
 * 5 on the scale is somewhat hard exercise, but it still feels OK to continue.
 * 8 is very strenuous. A healthy person can still go on, but they really have to push themselves. It feels very heavy, and the person is very tired.
 * 9 on the scale is an extremely strenuous exercise level. For most people this is the most strenuous exercise they have ever experienced.
 * 10 is maximal exertion: an all-out, 100% effort.

These levels accommodate differences in fitness. An unfit individual may require a level 10 effort to walk briskly uphill, whereas for a competitive athlete this may only be a level 3 effort. Over the course of the 12-week Body for Life program an individual would get noticeably fitter, so their intensity scale needs to be adjusted over time. This is considered normal.

Body for Life uses a "wave" pattern, periodically building up from level 5 to level 9 or 10 during an exercise session. This allows the muscles to warm up, and gives the body a chance to build up to a "high point" of maximal exertion. Brief but intense exercise provides maximum stimulus for the body to build strength and endurance, but without the risk of overtraining.

Weight training
Exercises for upper-body muscle groups include:
 * "Pecs" (chest), e.g. bench press, pec-deck, incline flye.
 * "Lats" (upper back), e.g. pull-down, bent-over row, dumbbell pullover.
 * Deltoids (shoulders), e.g. upright row, shoulder press, lateral raise.
 * Triceps (rear arms), e.g. push-down, triceps kickback, bench dip.
 * Biceps (front arms), e.g. biceps curl, concentration curl, hammer curl.

Exercises for lower-body muscle groups include:
 * Quadriceps (front legs), e.g. squat, leg press, leg extension.
 * Hamstrings (rear legs), e.g. leg curl, lunge, glute-ham raise.
 * Calves e.g. standing calf raise, seated calf raise.
 * "Abs" (torso), e.g. crunch, reverse crunch, leg raise.

Most of these exercise can be performed using either dumbbells, a barbell, a Smith machine, a cable machine with adjustable pulleys or a specially-designed apparatus. Two exercises should be chosen for each muscle group. Five sets of the first exercise are performed, and then one set of the second. Weights for each set should be chosen so that the specified number of repetitions can be achieved at the specified level of intensity. For example: Weight training sessions proceed at a brisk pace, with one minute of rest between the first four sets for a muscle group, and no rest between the final two sets. The cadence for each repetition should be one second to lift the weight (while exhaling deeply), one second holding it at the top, two seconds to lower the weight (while inhaling deeply) and then one second pausing before the next repetition. Each session should be completed within about 45 minutes.



Aerobic exercise
Most forms of aerobic exercise are suitable. Common choices include walking or running (perhaps on a treadmill), cycling, swimming, or the use of a rowing machine or cross-trainer. However, exercise classes are generally not suitable, unless they are specifically designed to suit Body for Life.

Aerobic exercise sessions are limited to 20 minutes duration. They compensate for this by following the same "wave" pattern of steadily increasing intensity as the weight training sessions. During the first five-minute period the intensity should be gradually increased from 5 to 9. The second, third and fourth five-minute periods repeat this pattern, except that the last period should finish at an intensity of 10.

Phillips maintains that aerobic exercise is more effective for fat loss when done first thing in the morning, because it raises the metabolism for the remainder of the day, and because the body draws more heavily on its fat stores after fasting overnight.

Body for Life books and videos

 * Phillips, Bill. Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength. HarperCollins, 1999. (ISBN 0-06-019339-5)
 * Phillips, Bill. Body for Life Success Journal. HarperCollins, 2002. (ISBN 0-06-051559-7)
 * Phillips, Bill. Eating for Life: Your Guide to Great Health, Fat Loss and Increased Energy! High Point Media, 2003 (ISBN 0-9720184-1-7)
 * Body of Work. Seventh Dream Pictures, 1998. (ASIN B0001H9T72)

Reviews of Body for Life:

 * AOL Diet & Fitness
 * WebMD