30 Days to Awesome - Amazon S3 Word - 30 Days to Awesome.docx Author Jeffrey Masters Created Date...

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30 Days to Awesome: A One Month Master Plan To Jumpstart Everything

It's one thing to look “like you work out” — but looking fucking awesome is another beast entirely. As I’ve discussed before, the blend of a full, dense musculature, low body fat, and appealing aesthetic symmetry is within our reach if we're willing to put in the work, and train specifically for that goal.

So what does it take to go from "all right looking" to muscular, defined, and powerful? What does it take to go from good to great? What does it take to go from looking like you work out…to looking fucking awesome?

It takes a specific plan, intended to serve very specific purposes. As outlined in How to Look Fucking Awesome, that plan has to written to maximize muscle size and minimize fat, all while pushing development in a way that conforms to the symmetrical symphony of the Golden Ratio.

As you read in HtLFA, these things are possible. And, while building a body that perfectly fits all of the various ratios set forth in that guide is a long road, things get a lot easier if you can peel off the line and get a bit of a head start.

Which is exactly what you’ll find in this guide: a step-‐by-‐step, day-‐by-‐day plan to give you a massive head start on your way to your best body ever—one that has the perfect blend of mass, form and symmetry.

And when I say head start, that’s exactly what I mean. Because while getting the perfect body might be more of a marathon, you’re going to cross the finish line a lot sooner if you can sprint through the first few miles.

I wrote this guide for that exact purpose: to make easier for you to achieve your potential in the long run, by helping you see your potential now. And with this plan, you can do that in just one month.


Now, I don’t mean to say that you’ll hit all of your goals. But by the end of the month, I guarantee that—as long as you follow this plan to the letter—you’re going to look better than you ever have. And that is what is going to help you see how great you can be, and what you need to work on to get there. The fact is, you really can make some serious visual changes in your body in 30 days. Obviously, people on the far end of the spectrum aren’t going to go from fat-‐ass to fitness model in 30 days; but anyone can dial it in and improve definition, lose a lot of fat, and create the appearance of better muscle size and strength for a more attractive body.

Some of these tips may sound simple; some may sound complicated. But if you stick to these recommendations, it may just be the most productive 30 days of your training career. So sit back, buckle up, and get ready to head to Awesomeville, population: you.

Dietary Considerations

To begin at the beginning, we really need to touch on nutrition. As mentioned, when your goal is to look as awesome as possible in the shortest time possible, you’ve got to strip fat while adding a bit of muscle—this known as recomposition.

Recomposition, like nearly all other physique goals, really comes down to one thing: diet. While the training aspect is certainly important, your diet is going to be at least 60% of the equation. Thankfully, there are a few dietary strategies that make looking awesome faster and simpler than you’d think possible.

The most effective of these, and the one we’ll focus on, is cycling.

In the context of dieting, cycling means that certain aspects of your nutrition are modified on specific days, based on activity. Nearly every successful diet uses some sort of cycling, whether it’s a standard intermittent fasting practice, a ketogenic diet, or carb backloading. All of these examples use very different parameters for cycling, but they have one thing in common: you eat more calories and carbs on certain days than others.

The primary reason for this is energy utilization and recovery. To put in the most succinct way possible, you need to take more energy on days you expend more energy.

Apart from helping you look awesome, there are some other advantages as well: researches at Louisiana State University found in a 2005 study that calorie cycling prolongs your life; this conclusion was further supported by researched conducted by the National Institute of Health in 2008.

In short, calorie cycling is going to help you lose fat while you gain muscle, optimize your hormones, and live longer. Not bad, if you ask me.


A good carb-‐cycling diet will try to match carbohydrate intake to energy demand; high-‐carb on days when the training is more intense, while less demanding days might call for medium or low carbs. That’s the set up we’ll be using for 30 Days to Awesome.

While there are a lot of more exacting ways to play with carb cycling and calculate these things, I want to take a more reasonably simple approach.

Here's your guide to macronutrient breakdown for the next 30 Days:

High Days — 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight, 1.5 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight, and no added fats.

Medium Days — 1.25 grams protein per pound of bodyweight, .75 gram of carbs per pound of bodyweight, .25 grams of fat per pound of bodyweight.

Low Days — 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight, .25 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight, .35 grams of fat per pound of bodyweight.

Here’s what that would look like with an actual person. Let’s take a 200-‐pound client; his numbers would compute thusly:

High Days – 300g protein (200 x 1.5), 300g carbs, incidental fat. Total calories: 2,400

Medium Days – 250 protein, 150g carbs, 50g fat. Total calories: 2,050

Low Days – 300g protein, 50g carbs, 70g fat. Total calories: 2,030

These calories might look a bit low, but keep in mind that we’re aiming for fat loss first, and everything else second. And, that’s the beauty of cycling: by pairing the higher carb and calorie intake with the right workouts, you get to add some custom mass to the right places while getting lean.

In terms of the other aspects of the diet: I’m not really a stickler when it comes to food choices, so you can more or less fill your macronutrients however you see fit. Of course, I do recommend getting as much of your nutrition from whole foods as possible.

In terms of protein, I recommend drinking one to three BioTRUST Low Carb protein shakes (or, just 2-‐3 scoops) per day—mainly because it’s easy to miss filling your protein requirements otherwise. The remainder should from whole-‐food sources, obviously.

For the sake of ease, don’t worry "incidental" macronutrients, by the way. For instance, if you’re on a high carb day (which calls for NO added fats) and you eat a cup of oatmeal, don’t worry about the incidental 3g of fat. It’s not worth giving yourself a headache over.


Programming Considerations

The first and most important step along the way is gearing up for serious fat loss. Even with no changes to muscle size, you'll see a very dramatic visual difference from leaning out.

Having said that, it is important to add muscle to certain areas, particularly on the upper body. While 30 days isn't really enough time to build serious full body mass, it’s more than enough time to make certain muscles "pop" while getting leaner, delivering both size and symmetry.

The main muscles to focus on are the shoulders, traps, and upper arms. Not only are these usually visual weak points, they also happen to progress very quickly, and will look the most impressive whether you’re wearing a shirt or not.

In order to make sure that you achieve maximal fat loss while adding muscle, programming will consist of a series of workouts, each intended for different goals. In addition to a few metabolic workouts, there are also specific days for each of those “focus” body parts, where you just hammer them—lots of exercises, lots of volume.

Before we go any further: one thing that needs to be said about this program right off the bat is that it has an incredible level of difficulty.

While the workouts themselves are not complicated, they are exceptionally taxing. Both the daily and weekly volume is pretty high, as is the frequency—you’re training six days a week, in a row.

Don’t worry, you won’t over train; the way the program is set up pretty much ensures that. Firstly, it’s only 30 days. Secondly, if you’re following your macro guidelines, you should be able to recovery adequately.

That said, this isn’t going to be a walk in the part; this is a program designed to elicit monumental visual changes over a short period of time, and as such it’s going to require discipline, fortitude, and a hell of a lot of dedication.

Over the next 30 days, you’ll often be sore. You’ll often be tired. And you’ll occasionally be a bit hungry. You’ll put yourself through tough workouts that make sweat pour from your body and make your muscles hate life, themselves, and you. But, you’ll also incinerate fat and add quality mass to all the right places.

The long and short of it is that this isn’t going to be easy, but if you prepare correctly, it can be a lot of fun.

To that end, I recommend doing a 1-‐2 week ramp-‐up period. During this time, just perform two of the metabolic workouts, and one of the heavy workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, respectively. The goal is to allow your body to build up some lactate tolerance and work capacity, without pushing into adaptation—this way the program is even more effective.

With all of that said, let’s take a look at the workouts.


WORKOUT 1 – Metabolic Resistance Circuit This serves as an intense full body fat loss workout, but won't exhaust the showpiece muscles (shoulders, upper arms, traps), as those will be trained on their own specialization days.

EXERCISE REPS REST A1) Reverse Lunges 12-‐15 30 seconds

A2) Low Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 12-‐15 45 seconds

A3) Pull-‐up Failure 60 seconds

A4) Dumbbell Squats 12-‐15 60 seconds

A5) Push-‐up Position Plank 60 seconds

Set-‐Up: Set a timer for 45 minutes. Perform A1-‐A5 sequentially, resting as noted between exercises, and 2 minutes between rounds. Perform as many rounds as possible in 45 minutes.

Progression: Every time you perform this workout, decrease the rest periods by 5 seconds (note that this decrease applies to the entire hour, for all exercises), and try to perform more total rounds.

The magic of this workout is in the rest periods; as you get further into the round, they get a bit longer, allowing you to stay slightly fresher and keep moving. If you feel ready to go before your rest period has expired, feel free to get back to work a little early, especially during the beginning of the workout. However, it is imperative that you never go over the rest periods: keeping them short and sweet is what makes the workout metabolic. If you feel that you’re getting burnt, it’s better to decrease the weight a bit rather than increase the rest periods.


WORKOUT 2 – Heavy Traps This is going to be our first dedicated workout for a showpiece muscle. To achieve the right mix of load and volume, you’ll be performing 30 total sets for that muscle group, and varying the sets and reps to maximize fiber recruitment.

EXERCISE SETS REPS A) Barbell Shrugs 6 6

Rest 90 seconds between sets.

B) Rack Pulls 8 8

Rest 2-‐3 minutes between sets. Go heavy here.

C) Dumbbell Shrugs w/ 2 sec Pause 10 10

Hold for 2 seconds at the top of each rep.


D1) Low-‐Trap Raises 3 15

D2) Half Kneeling Cable Face Pulls 3 15

Perform D1 and D2 alternately. Rest 60 between sets.


WORKOUT 3 – Mixed: MRT & High-‐Rep Shoulders This workout, we’re aiming at two goals. The first half of the session is intended to create more fat loss via metabolic resistance training; the second half is more dedicated, focusing on shoulders. Be sure to judge your recovery, and let that guide you in terms of how much weight to use.

EXERCISE REPS A1) Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift 12

A2) Bent Over DB Row 10

A3) Walking Lunge 10 steps per leg

A4) Decline Push-‐up 8-‐10

A5) Inverted Row 6-‐10

A6) Rocking Plank 30 seconds Set-‐Up: Set a timer for 20 minutes. Perform A1-‐A6 sequentially, resting minimally between exercises, and 2 minutes between rounds. Perform as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes.

Progression: Every time you perform this workout, try to perform more total rounds.

B) Kettlebell Press 5x5 per arm

Rest 1 minute between sets. Alternate arms.

C) Dumbbell Arnold Press 4x12


D) Half-‐Bent Lateral Raise 5x8-‐10

Rest 1 minute between sets.


WORKOUT 4 – Bodyweight MRT This is an intense full-‐body circuit, where our intent is to burn as many calories as possible. Because it’s done with bodyweight, you can transition seamlessly from exercise to exercise, keeping rest periods minimal.

EXERCISE REPS A1) Bodyweight squats 15

A2) Stiff-‐leg Deadlift with arms overhead 15

A3) Plank 30

A4) Parallel Bar Dips 8

A5) Jumping Jacks 25

A6) Push-‐ups 15

A7) Pull-‐ups 10

A8) Side Plank 30 seconds per side

Set-‐Up: Set a timer for 45 minutes. Perform A1-‐A8 sequentially, with no rest between exercises, and 2-‐3 minutes between rounds. Perform as many rounds as possible in 45 minutes.

Progression: Every time you perform this workout, try to perform more total rounds.


WORKOUT 5 – High Rep Traps Ah, now we’re really getting into it with some high-‐rep work for our traps. This is one of the most effective training sessions, because when you hit them right, your traps can put on some serious size over a month. Although this workout uses very similar exercises to the previous trap day, the reps are considerably higher, as is the total volume.

EXERCISE SETS REPS A) Barbell Shrugs 4 25

(Note: If you're feeling adventurous, try overhead shrugs)

B) Upright Row 6 15

C) Low Trap Raises 5 12-‐15


WORKOUT 6 – Heavy Shoulders Next up is another heavy workout, this time for shoulders. The volume stays the same as the trap workout, but obviously the exercises switch. Keep in mind that both the traps and shoulders have a high concentration of type llb muscle fibers, so these heavy sessions can really encourage growth.

EXERCISE SETS REPS A) Barbell Push Press 6 6

Rest 2-‐3 minutes between sets. Go heavy.

B) Dumbbell Military Press 8 8

Rest 2-‐3 minutes between sets.

C) Javelin Press 10 10

Note that the javelin press is a unilateral exercise; as such you’re doing 10 sets per arm, for a total of 20 sets.

Rest 1-‐2 minutes between sets. Alternate arms. (Right arm, rest 1 min; left arm; rest 1 min, etc)

D1) Cable Lateral Raises 3 15

D2) External Rotations 3 15

Perform D1 and D2 alternately. Rest 60 between sets.


WORKOUT 7 – Heavy Arms It wouldn’t be a real workout meant for looking awesome without some arm training. In this case, we’re making use of a combination of great compound and isolation movements, but keeping the weight heavy and the reps low. Just some advanced warning: you will be sore the day after.

EXERCISE SETS REPS A) Weighted Dips 6 6

Rest 2 minutes between sets.

B) Close-‐grip Bench 5 8


C) Weighted Close-‐grip Chin-‐ups 5 5


D1) Supinated-‐grip Barbell Skull Crushers 8 15

D2) Barbell Curl 8 15

Perform D1 and D2 alternately. Rest 60-‐90 seconds between sets.

Skull Crusher Note: Using the supinated grip increases recruitment of the long head of the triceps. However, it does increase the risk factor. To mitigate this, instead of of lower the bar down to your forehead, bring it slightly behind your head. Please mind your grip and don’t crack your head open.

Curl Note: Alternating between wide, medium, and close grips between sets.


WORKOUT 8 – High Reps Arms Once again, we’re hitting guns, but this time going with high reps and lighter weight.

EXERCISE SETS REPS A1) Chin-‐Up 4 10-‐12

A2) Supinated Grip Cable Pressdown 4 15

B1) Push-‐ups 3 Failure

B2) Incline Dumbbell Curls 3 25

B3) Barbell Reverse Curls 3 25

Perform B1-‐B3 sequentially. Rest 30-‐60 seconds between exercises.


Cardio Considerations

One of my early mentors, Dr. John Berardi, has always maintained that for the average person who wants to look good, aiming for five total hours of weekly "activity" is a solid rule of thumb. However, when someone really wants to dial it in and look fucking awesome, he recommends 9-‐10 hours of activity each week. I’ve always found these to be great recommendations.

Now, “activity” is a blanket term, so it obviously includes all the time you spend in the gym. In the case of this program, you’re training six days per week, and let’s assume each workout takes 45-‐60 minutes.

For the sake of easy math, let’s call that six hours of activity. That leaves you with four hours of activity to fill over the course of the week. As we’ve already got the weight training covered, this, of course, means cardio.

Let’s just address this: if anyone ever tells you that cardio is “pointless,” they have no idea what they’re talking about. Sure, it’s been proven that with the right programming, types of weight training are more effective for fat loss and conditioning. But that by no stretch means that cardio is worthless.

While I don’t love the idea of people hamster-‐wheeling their lives away, the fact is that cardio is a low impact way to get in extra activity without compromising recovery, and can heavily tip the scales in your direction.

Just so we’re on the same page here, I break cardio into two categories:

• Steady state (walking, jogging, rowing, etc>) • Conditioning (sprints, sled work, jump rope, etc.)

They both have benefits and drawbacks, both physiologically and practically: conditioning is obviously a lot more taxing, and harder on the body overall; steady state is a bit less demanding, but takes a lot longer.

To get maximal benefit, we’ll be using both. However, there are some things to take into account.

Remember, our goal is to nudge development towards looking awesome; this means that we have to make sure you don’t sacrifice any muscle, and just allow your steady state cardio to help you shed even more fat. Additionally, the six days of intense training are already taking their toll; so doing too much intense conditioning could impede recovery.

Getting the exact right mix is tough, but what I’ve found to be exceptionally effective for my clients on plans similar to this is 3.5-‐4.5 hours of steady state, and one 15-‐20 minute conditioning session.


For this program, that equates to a 45-‐minute steady state session FIVE days per week, and 15 minutes of conditioning ONE day per week.

Steady state should always be done first thing in the morning. Not necessarily because of any benefits that might occur do to being fasted, but more because you’re infinitely more likely to get it done. So: first thing in the morning, get it done.

This doesn’t need to be fancy—just go for a (brisk) walk. If you live in an area where climate permits, do it outside and get some fresh air. If not, an incline treadmill walk is perfectly fine.

I really can’t stress how effective something as simple as walking can be for fat loss. In addition to the extra energy expenditure, it'll facility recovery (especially in the legs), and give you time refocus on the goal of the ordeal. Not to mention, it’s been shown that walking increased brain activity, as well. Which is pretty sweet.

On the other side of the coin, there’s your conditioning. Again you’re getting a lot of metabolic work elsewhere in the program, so this is just one day per week. Conditioning is brief, but brutal.

If you have the equipment for it, sled pushes and drags are amazing as a conditioning tool. Battling ropes are another amazing piece of equipment that I highly recommend…if you have access to them, that is. But, really, it’s your choice for what to do, as long as it can be done in an interval fashion: treadmill sprints, kettlebell swings, jump rope—doesn’t matter.

Just set a timer for 15 minutes, and do as many sets of 20-‐30 seconds as you can, keeping the rest periods as short as possible. Conditioning is all about creating metabolic demand; it doesn’t have to be complicated, it just has to be demanding.


Supplement Considerations

Although supplements account for less than 5% of your success, the fact remains that they can help. If you’re on the right plan, they can help a lot. While it’s certainly not necessary to clean out your local vitamin store, if you want to make this 30 day program even more effective, there are a few things you can add to the mix.

Firstly, as mentioned above, you’ll want a good protein powder; that’s just something everyone should have on hand. I personally love BioTRUST Low Carb, as it is both high quality and extremely delicious.

Secondly, while you’re over on the BioTRUST site, snag some IC-‐5. In full disclosure, I helped design this supplement, but that just makes it more awesome, right? Anyway, IC-‐5 helps with insulin sensitivity, which makes it incredibly effective as a nutrient-‐partitioning agent. That is, it’ll help make sure that more of the foods you eat help build muscle instead of getting stored as fat.

Next, grab yourself some high quality creatine monohydrate. Creatine is the most effective and highly researched supplement in the world. For a program like this—comprised of both high volume and high frequency—creatine can be the difference between getting a few extra reps every workout, or not being recovered enough to train. There really isn’t a reason not to take it, especially as it’s so cheap. Just grab it.

Finally, when you're dieting, you tend not to get all the necessary nutrients, so I would highly recommend picking up something like Athletic Greens. It’s an all-‐in-‐one nutritional supplement that gives you all the vitamins, minerals and micronutrients you need to stay upright as a functional human being, let alone perform well in the gym. And, AG helps boost immunity, and nothing puts a hole in the boat faster than getting sick or injured. Definitely grab some.

That’s really it. While there are certainly other great supplements you can take, these are the few that I think are going to be the highest yield, and have the best cost-‐to-‐benefit ratio for this program.


Training & Nutrition Schedule

Week One Schedule Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Training Workout 1 Workout 2 Workout 3 Workout 4 Workout 5 Workout 6 OFF

Diet Low High Medium Low High Medium Low

Cardio Steady State Steady State Conditioning Steady Steady Steady OFF

Week Two Schedule Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Training Workout 1 Workout 7 Workout 3 Workout 4 Workout 8 Workout 2 OFF

Diet Low Low Medium Low High Medium Low


Week Three Schedule Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Training Workout 1 Workout 6 Workout 8 Workout 4 Workout 3 Workout 2 OFF

Diet Low High High Low Medium Low Low


Week Four Schedule Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Training Workout 1 Workout 2 Workout 7 Workout 4 Workout 5 Workout 6 OFF

Diet Low Low High Low High Medium Low


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