"Although watching television can be a great way to unwind after a hectic day, laugh out loud, or even learn something new, it is, generally, the biggest time vampire in modern society."
-- Body-for-LIFE creator Bill Phillips in Muscle Media magazine, March, 2000.
Bill Phillips' Body-for-LIFE program can also be considered an anti-couch-potato program. This unique body building program combines good diet, weight training, and aerobic exercise and can help you get out of the couch and into great physical and mental shape. I participated in a 12-week "challenge" in January, 2000 and within 10 weeks I lost 20 lbs. of fat and gained muscle. I went from a size 34 waist to 31 and feel better about my physical appearance than I have in many years.
If you are saying, "I don't have time to exercise!" then you are only making up excuses. You probably spend hours upon hours watching television. Turn off the video screen and pick up some weights.
"Many people are completely 'indifferent' about what they watch on the boob tube. Most sitcoms don't present interesting situations nor good comedy, and the vast majority of news broadcasts are comprised of reports that are absolutely irrelevant to the majority of us. (What difference does it make in my life to know everything Hillary Clinton said or did today or that there was a fire at a hotel in France or wherever?!)," says Phillips.
"What TV actually does is hypnotize you--think about what you look
like when you're sitting there on the couch watching TV: you're
literally staring off into space, thinking about next to nothing and
accomplishing next to nothing," says Phillips. "Now, you don't have
to give up television altogether to create extra time you can use to
accomplish much more productive things, like building a fantastic
body. Just use discretion! Every time you turn on the TV, ask
yourself, "Could this time be better spent doing something else?"
Most of the time, the answer will be, "Yes!" Please remember, how you
invest your time will determine how successful you are at building a
better body and that wasting time is, in actuality, wasting your
life!"
Phillips is a wonderful motivator and his program can help you move from being a slug to becoming a cheetah. His best-selling book, called Body-for-LIFE: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength goes into great detail about what he believes is the correct way to "eat right and exercise." In addition to the physical part of his program, Phillips also focuses on changing ones mental focus. He talks about the power of "positive pressure" to help you achieve your goals.
"Most people in America have been conditioned to believe they should 'coast' through life as much as possible -- they should avoid 'pressure situations' and gravitate toward circumstances where no one is demanding anything from them," explains Phillips in the book. "You see, the truth of the matter is that it's through pressure or 'stress' that we evolve -- that we grow."
"Think about it: The fundamental principle of building a stronger body is the process of overcoming stress, or 'resistance.' We force our muscles to work, and this effort in turn forces our muscles to adapt. If we put no pressure at all on those muscles, if we present them with no resistance whatsoever, what happens? They atrophy. They dissipate. They weaken," says Phillips.
"To harness the power of positive pressure, start with regularly subjecting your muscles to a healthy dose of stress by working out. Then, invite other challenges back into your life. Rather than run from pressure situations, or pretend they don't exist, face them. Seek them out. In doing so, you'll find that positive pressure brings out your best. You'll be raising it to a new, higher level," says Phillips.
I find these words incredibly inspirational. I read the inspirational passages in his book often. Working out and improving my body became a focus of pride and confidence. I can wear clothes now that I could never have fit into before following this program.
However, I think Body-for-LIFE is far from perfect. I made many modifications to the program to fit my own lifestyle and goals. For example, I disagree with Phillips' nutrition program of eating six meals each day. I don't believe that the human body is this machine-like and one should not eat just because it's time. I would eat when I was hungry, but if I was full, I did not try to force a nutrition shake down my throat. His program of portions of carbohydrates, protein, and vegetables is great and I completely changed my diet to whole wheat and healthy foods. I eat better now than I ever have in my life.
The supplemental meals he pushes consist of his company's nutritional shakes and bars called Myoplex. The company, called Experimental and Applied Sciences (EAS) makes excellent products, but they are quiet pricey. I used the Myoplex supplements for a while, but found that the best supplement is to eat good food. You could spend a small fortune purchasing Myoplex, Beta-Gen, and other supplements. I achieved tremendous weight loss and gained strength with minimal supplements. I also found that the Myoplex Lite bars have too much sugar and my face broke out really bad until I cut them out of my diet for a while. I am now partial to IronMan bars from Twinlab.
I also believe that pushing oneself with weight training is good, but must be done in moderation. Damage can occur when too much weight is placed on muscles too quickly (I've seen this happen to others). The Body-for-LIFE "high points" are a good goal, but they must be achieved gradually so that extreme damage does not occur. When reading the Body-for-LIFE book, I got the impression that his program was not to be changed in any way. The inflexible nature of the program is a weakness.
Overall, I highly recommend this program for getting your body into great shape. It's easy to sit on the couch and exercise your fingers on the TV remote control. Working out and getting into shape is harder, but is so much more rewarding.
To order the Body-for-LIFE book, link over to 
for a good price.
Of course, the best source of information about this outstanding
program can be found at 
