[ReviewAZON asin="0060193395" display="inlinepost"]Body for Life was created by publisher and former bodybuilder Bill Phillips. Phillips used to own the nutritional supplements company, EAS, and he founded the bodybuilding magazine, Muscle Media. In addition to his book, Body for Life, Phillips has also published other books about diet and fitness, i.e. Eating for Life and Fit for Life. They all share his overall fitness philosophy.

Bill Phillips started his career advising bodybuilders on how to use anabolic steroids and other supplements through his newsletter and magazine. So it shouldn’t be too surprising that a large part of his Body for Life plan revolves around nutritional supplements and multivitamins. There’s more to it than just taking a few pills though.

Exercise is the heart and soul of the Body for Life system that Phillips has developed. The idea is that you will be able to change the shape of your body to what you desire.

To achieve this goal, both aerobic exercise and weight training are needed. Between the two, your metabolism will increase and help keep you in the fat burning state, even when your body is at rest.

The plan requires a six days a week program. Each week you alternatve between weights and aerobics. So on day 1 you may do weight training and on day two you will do aerobics. Intensity is increased during the work out until you peak, and then you gradually dial it back down again until you are done with that session’s workout.

Body for Life is set up as a 12 week plan requiring at least 45 minutes per day of exercise. For many busy people, this is going to be quite a challenge to fit into your lifestyle, but if you are committed to sculpting your shape in addition to just losing weight, there is really no getting around the fact that you are going to have to do a significant amount of exercise, particularly weight training. I think there are some clear strength benefits to be gained here as well.

Aerobic days should be the easiest to fit into your plans, since you can walk, run and jog. All of these are exercises that don’t require the use of a gym or special equipment (besides a good pair of running or walking shoes).

Of course, an exercise regimen is not the only aspect of Body for Life. You will be paying a lot of attention to what you eat over the course of the 12 week plan and your diet is going to be a significant factor in whether you are ultimately successful or not in achieving your goals.

Since all of this exercise will be boosting your metabolism and burning calories, you can expect that your appetite will increase. It is important to pay attention to portion control to avoid eating too much.

Because of the increased energy expenditure, the Body for Life diet revolves around keeping your muscles fueled for the duration of the plan. Lean meats and fish will help supply the protein your muscles need to rebuild themselves. Supplements and multivitamins are also recommended, but you should always be careful using any kind of supplementation and there are many fitness experts who question the necessity of using them in the first place. The best advice is to speak to your doctor before using them.

The Body for Life diet is a low fat diet. Meals are split between protein and carbohydrates with very little fat. It calls for eating six small meals per day, instead of three large meals. It is common wisdom at this point that smaller meals spaced more frequently is better for keeping the metabolism at its optimum.

Since this is a low fat plan, and not a low carb one, you get to eat rice and potatoes. Carbohydrates are important when it comes to supplying the energy you need for all the exercise you will be doing.

[ReviewAZON asin="160529828X" display="inlinepost"]Final thoughts on Body for Life

While I question the necessity of supplementation in general because you should be getting your nutrients from food, Body for Life is a decent plan with or without the supplements.

I believe it is ideally suited for someone who has already lost weight or someone who is close to goal weight and needs to now work on looking fitter and getting stronger. A lot of times weight loss reveals the flabby muscles that were hiding beneath the fat and this is a good plan for re-sculpting the body.

If you aren’t used to exercising very much though, this may be a bit more than you are ready for without several weeks of gradually working exercise into your lifestyle first.

If you still have a significant amount of weight to lose however, I believe you may find the results disappointing and you may struggle with the diet aspect of the plan. In the long run, it is diet that determines weight loss. If you have more than 20 lbs of weight to lose, I think another diet plan would be more appropriate.

Tags: bill phillips, body for life, exercise, weight training