X-treme Lean

You may think I’m biased when it comes to this e-book. After all, my before and after photos are on the cover, and my story, program and diet are in Chapter 6. Oh, and my husband is the co-author with Jonathan Lawson. But considering the results I achieved with the information presented and the physique transformations I’ve seen Steve and Jonathan go through, I can honestly say I’m qualified to give you the goods on X-treme Lean.

Of course, Steve and Jonathan do a good job of covering the basics, such as eating six meals a day, each built around protein, but they go further. They explain what happens when you don’t eat that way and why getting only one, two or even three meals a day can make you fat—hint: Your stomach churns as muscle burns.

They also explain the no-carb, low-carb or slow-carb mystery, analyzing each approach to dieting and providing the carb-stacking solution, sample diet included. You also learn a simple way to figure macronutrient percentages—carbs, fat and protein—for your diet and get an X-treme Lean tip sheet you can print and put on your fridge. It includes reminders like, “Never eat carb-only meals,” with short explanations for each tip.

Chapter 3, “X-citing Transformations,” is probably the one that will be the favorite of IRON MAN readers. It contains before and after photos of Steve and Jonathan as they went from cream puffs to big and buff. They explain how they did it—each had a slightly different strategy—and present their meal-by-meal 12-week ripping diets.

They outline alternative fat-loss diets and a number of X-treme Lean meal options that you can plug in when the listed meal isn’t available or you’re not in the mood for it. That helps make the base diet much less boring and easier to stick with.

They also explain the science behind why a cheat day is important—it has to do with the hormone leptin and its effect on the starvation mechanism and metabolism—and discuss the key X-treme Lean nutrients and how to use them. The list includes L-carnitine, yohimbine, phosphatidylserine, zinc and even creatine—yes, it can enhance fat loss too. 

Okay, I may have misspoken. IM readers’ favorite chapter may actually be Chapter 8, “X-treme Lean Training,” where Steve and Jonathan discuss the optimal way to hit the weights to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. It has to do with stimulating growth hormone and testosterone at every workout with techniques like drop sets and end-of-set X-Rep partials. They discuss why specific techniques work, how to apply them and the research—such as recent studies on occlusion, a.k.a. blocking blood flow to the muscles—and they outline a complete program. The X-treme Lean High-Definition Workout incorporates the postactivation technique for recruiting more fibers to fire and getting a better anabolic and fat-burning hormone response in fewer sets.

The last chapter is a big Q&A that covers everything from cardio to meal replacements to sleep to the dairy dilemma to motivation. That chapter alone will clear up many of your questions about how to speed up your own fat-to-muscle transformation.

There’s also my chapter, which, as I said, contains the specifics of how I achieved my transformation. It includes my break-in routine, my complete transformation program and my diet—plus tips on mind-set and eating.

X-treme Lean has more than 100 pages and is one of the most information-packed e-books available on completely transforming your body with weight training, cardio and proper diet, whether you’re male or female. It’s an indispensable piece of work—prob–ably the only fat-to-muscle guide you’ll ever need—and that’s a
completely semi-unbiased opinion. It’s available at www.X-tremeLean.com.

—Becky Holman