Tommy Europe - The 10-Pound Shred: From Flab to Fit in 4 Weeks

THE

10-POUND
SHRED

To everyone who has decided to improve their lives
through fitness and healthy living. My hope and wish is that
this book can help everybody achieve their own goals, improve
their quality of life and take control of their lives.

And to Team T. A. M., I love you; this is for you.

Have a seat. Im going to give you the straight goods. Unless youre already sitting down, that is. Maybe youre in the bookstore right now, wondering whether this really is the first step toward where you want to be. Or maybe youre sitting on the couch, munching away on a bowl of chips, thinking that sooner or later youre going to have to work out some better habits, particularly if youre ever going to fit into that old pair of jeans again.

Whatever the case, youre probably going to be sitting down a lot less in the coming weeks, but grab a seat right now, because were going to get a few things straight. As hard as it may be to believe right now, a lot is going to change over the next month.

Over the next 31 days, you are going to lose inches and pounds. Thats right: At the end of this month, youre going to see the difference, and so will everyone else.

Over the next 31 days, you are going to find you have less and less body fat, and more lean muscle mass. Youre going to feel different.

Over the next 31 days, you are going to gain the knowledge and the confidence to get the results that have escaped you up to this point. You see where this is going, dont you? You are actually going to be different.

At the end of the month, you are definitely going to fit into those old jeans again. Youre going to look great at that upcoming event, whether its a wedding, graduation, family function or anything else. Youre going to run that race, make that team or just kick your buddies butts in golf. Just as important, youre going to set a great example for your peers, your friends and your family.

Are you okay with all that?

If you are, then keep reading. Because were going to stop making excuses, blast through your comfort zones and have a great time along the way.

Im not going to lie to you, though. Its not going to be easy. If it were, you would have done it already and you wouldnt be reading this book. Im sure youve already tried. But, for some reason, your good intentions have tailed off. Maybe you didnt know how to keep going. Maybe you didnt even really know where to begin.

Im going to show you exactly where to begin. Its called Day 1, and were going to get to that in a minute. As for how to keep going, weve got that taken care of, too: Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and so on to 31. You dont have to worry about anything except knowing what day it is. Oh, and one more thing: putting everything youve got into your workouts.

Now, that probably sounds like a lot of sweat and a lot of pain. And if you thought sweat and pain were fun, you might not be trying to lose 10 pounds right now. Well, guess what? Those things are fun. I know, it sounds more than a little crazy. But look around. Why do you think people compete in triathlons, or climb mountains, or lift weights, or even play ultimate Frisbee with their friends? Because trying hard feels good, and if you end up with a few aches and pains at the end, even that feels all right.

You may already know this, of course. But if you have to take my word for it, I might as well tell you that Ive had my share of aches, too, and I know what it feels like to push myself hard. Fitness has always been a part of my life. Ive been very active since I was a kid. I was always playing one sport or another soccer, track, rugby, baseball, football and hockeyyeah, thats right, I said hockey. That was the first sport I truly loved. Then football took centre stage. I played four years at Bishops University, then went on to play as a pro in the Canadian Football League for 11 years.

If you like to play sports, doing it for a living is a lot of fun. But its a lot of work, too. I mean a lot of work. Playing at that level required me to spend some serious hours in the gym, and an equal amount of time on a physiotherapists table. After all, sometimes I was the hammer, but every once in a while I was the nail, too! But thats the thing: The fun and the work go together.

So trust me: When youre feeling like its getting tough, remember that Ive been there and Ive gotten through it. You will, too.

But I dont want to make the 10-Pound Shred sound like a month of suffering and sacrifice! Do you remember when you were a kid and could just run and play all day long, learning new athletic moves as if it was the most natural thing in the world? Thats why it was funbecause you always got to do something different and learn something new. No one has to tell a kid to suck it up and do one more set. Just the oppositeyou have to tell kids to stop playing. Well, if youre exercising right, you should be having that kind of fun yourself, especially once youre back in shape.

You may not notice it when youre sitting on the couch, but your body likes to move. It may or may not like to do sets of bench presses, but unless youre an offensive lineman or a body builder, those particular movements and muscle groups are probably not all that important to you. Not many people find the ability to push 350 pounds off their chests an especially useful talent. Maybe thats why people eventually get bored of working on that skill. Or sit-ups. Anyone like sit-ups? I didnt think so. No one wants to do something hard just for the sake of doing something hard. But dont worry: The 10-Pound Shred is not just a hardcore version of high-school phys. ed. class.

Its way more fun than that.

I appreciate the different movements different sports require, so I incorporate the principles of these movements into my High-Intensity Training Zone (HITZ) functional training system. Fitness is about work, but its about play, too.

What do I mean by functional training"? I mean I lot of things, but most important, I mean that were going to be working on the muscles you use in everyday lifeeven if you didnt know you had them. And no, I dont mean your already Olympic-calibre beer-drinking arms or BlackBerry thumbs.

This is a big one. Over the course of the 10-Pound Shred (10PS for short), Im going to keep telling you to engage your core. What that means is that you need to pull your belly button toward your spine while at the same time pushing down toward your pelvis. For you ladies, that means contracting your Kegel muscles; for guys, it means pretending you have to go pee, and really contracting those muscles to prevent the squirt! And dont forget to breathe. Youre not just sucking it in to hide your beer belly or pouchyoure flexing your most important set of complex muscles, and keeping them flexed. Youll want to inhale during the easier part of any lift and slowly exhale during the hardest part.

More than anything else, functional training means working on what youll keep hearing me call your core. What exactly is your core? Well, the technical answer is your transverse abdominus, your internal and external obliques, your quadratus lumborum and your diaphragm. If working on these muscles doesnt sound like a real priority to you, Ill add that theyre the ones we use in important activitieslike breathing, for example. They also work together to give you stability and strength in whatever you do. I dont care whether youre working on your tennis serve, your tee shots in golf or your wrist shot in hockeyor ballroom dancing, ultimate fighting or carrying your kid around in the mall. Your core is where you get your power.