5-Factor Fitness: The Diet and Fitness Secret of Hollywood’s A-List
Developed through research with some of the world’s leading weight lifters and military organizations, Harley Pasternak’s fitness and meal plan has been used by Hollywood’s biggest celebrities to stay in shape and still have a life.
5-Factor Fitness presents Pasternak’s regimen-alternating strength training and aerobics-that lets dieters eat more, work out less, and achieve results in just 5 weeks:
– Work out 5 days a week-at home or at the gym, for only 25 minutes a day, to lose fat, gain lean muscle and increase energy
– Eat 5 meals a day to boost metabolism and reduce body fat
– Follow 5 simple criteria for each meal, and spend only 5 minutes preparing each one
– Indulge in a weekly cheat day: one day a week to satisfy cravings and eat favorite foods… More >>
5-Factor Fitness: The Diet and Fitness Secret of Hollywood’s A-List
I can’t believe why anyone would waste their time and effort on such a fitness plan! He only believes in 5 minutes of cardio because his eating plan is so unhealthy that one would not have any energy to do more than 5 minutes! The only way one can lose weight is to be balanced with eating and exercise! His fitness plan is lame and the eating plan is worse! If you need to buy a book it is better to get Gunnar Peterson’s book!
Great book. It arrived just the next day just as it said it would. The book was in excellent shape…brand new. It was a great purchase and Amazon made it possible.
This book is very easy to read and the program seems easy to follow. I just need to start it!
I haven’t finished reading it all yet, but so far, the concepts are right on target.
The book starts with reasonable approach that exercise and nutrition should be simple and practical, not tedious, restrictive, or impractical. It also offers good general advice that exercise should be carried out five days per week and meals also should be closely spaced to prevent malnutrition. Yet, soon you find out that the author has restricted himself by his obsession with number five. For example, he describes the five elements of exercises as the type, reps, sets, intensity, and rest interval. This omits the sequence of exercise and quality of execution. Also, he groups major muscles in five entities: back, quadriceps, chest, shoulders, and arms, he then trains the latter two only once a week. That approach induces muscular imbalance problems since there is no reliable index to assess flexibility or coordination by such improvised categorization of exercise.
On the scientific grounds, the author claims to base his 5-factor theory on the Bulgarian Powerlifting approach and other scientific facts, yet Bulgarians do not train by dumbbells alone. They never do half-squat by dumbbells as the author demonstrates. The Quadriceps is a huge muscle and requires much heavier weights in order to develop strength. Dumbbell deadlift and dumbbell squat prove that this author is entirely inexperienced in strength training. The sequence of exercises he recommends on pages 62-66 is flawed since it does not take into consideration spinal loading. It starts with chest dumbbell flys and ends with triceps extension. This would really upset the Bulgarians who know very well the basics of mechanics that most American trainers flunk. The same exercises are then repeated on pages 78-82 just to fill the space in a 174-page book.
The strength training approach is also flawed. The author considers the shoulders and arms minor muscles and the chest, back, and quadriceps major muscles and appropriates time depending on the size of the muscles. Thus, he appropriates one day per week to the shoulders. That is entirely haphazard approach to strengthening. The shoulders, lower back, and legs must be trained in almost every exercise. His misunderstanding of the shoulder’s anatomy made him confuse the upper back, chest, and shoulder combination. These three groups of muscles mainly work on the shoulder joint from the back, upward, and forward, respectively. You cannot work out your chest or your upper back had your shoulder been stressed out.
The author forcibly cites success stories for his training method, yet from the photographs in the book, you could easily tell that he ignores the range of motion, the mechanics of lifting, and the training load. The author also hypes up the possibility of achieving higher goals with simple tools, limited time, and few exercises. Ten minutes of strength training with dumbbells would not accomplish higher goals. Although the author mentions the role of testosterone and growth hormone in building muscles, he improvises ridiculously flawed 2-4 sets exercises of 10-25 reps. High reps are not effective in stimulating these hormones. High intensity and low reps is the golden rule of strength training.