Book Review: The Leangains Method

I just finished Martin Berkhan’s book The Leangains Method.

It’s a great concept. It’s simple and it works.

I’ve done it for 6 years.

if I were to follow a template for fitness, it would be based on this book.

What I do different has to do with psychology and digestion.

Intermittent Fasting:

I must have got 10-20 people to start doing IF, in real life. And a few thousand through my blog.

Out of the people I’ve been in touch with (more than 100 on email), only a few who gave it a serious try said it wasn’t for them.

In my mind, intermittent fasting should be the default for the population. It should be what we, as a society and culture, have as one of our pillars. Instead of, say, the “plate model” which I was taught in school.

What follows is a brief summary of Martin’s book – The Leangains Method

The Leangains Method is composed of many concepts. I won’t write it all out, but here are some of the most practical advice from Martin’s book.

DIT = Dietary Thermogenesis

The “Calories in vs calories out” approach is not correct. It doesn’t take Dietary Thermogenesis (DIT) into account. The implication of DIT is that certain foods are metabolized faster than others. This means that if you have two foods with the same amount of calories listed on the label, the food with a higher DIT will have less calories. Ergo: You can eat more of it without becoming fat.

Here are a few examples given by Martin in the book:

• Fat has extremely low DIT and goes straight into fat reserves. One exception is MCT-oil and coconut fat (which I eat–because it’s also good for your digestion).
• Protein has a high DIT 20-35%. That’s why we can eat a lot of protein without getting fat.
• Specific foods: Cheesecake, Pears, and Flanksteak have high DIT.
• Alcohol has a DIT of 15%. This means 1 gram of alcohol has 6.3 calories. If you drink a shot of vodka, you get 25.2 calories. This means you can keep it to roughly two units without breaking the fast.

Next, are Martin’s 7 dietary guidelines–if you want to achieve fat loss and strength gain.

The Thermogentic 7:

1) Protein – try to eat 60% calories from protein. This means 300 grams of protein on a 2000 cal diet.

2) Don’t snack throughout the day. It will spike your hunger unnecessarily (raising insulin levels).

3) Eat lots of leafy green vegetables. Low calories, high on vitamins (Recommended: Spinach and broccoli).

4) Eat whole foods, not processed foods. (Fresh, not in plastic box). “If it fits your macros” is not a healthy approach in the long-term. It’s just a noble indulgence.

5) Timing – eat carbs directly after exercising for a higher thermic effect. Try not to consume more than 100g of carbs per day.

6) Caffeine for weight loss – Martin recommends you to take caffeine pills every 2 hours throughout the day, as long as it doesn’t interrupt your sleep. This will lose you 150-200 calories per day.

7) There are three rules for drinking alcohol without gaining weight: (1) eat only protein and vegetables during the day, (2) you can eat at party, but no fat is allowed. (3) drink only pure liquor. Don’t drink beer.

Two notes on this:

Regarding 60% protein.

I don’t doubt this is possible, but for someone with a bad digestion, it will be hard. I get gassy and tired when I go over 2.5 grams per kilo. Martin’s strategy would require me to go on 5 grams/kilo.

Regarding caffeine pills:

I drink 1-2 cups of coffee per day. Sometimes I take caffeine pills (for the effect of variation and because it gives a different “high”). But I could never take more than 1-2 in a day without ruining my sleep.

If you want to lose weight real bad, this will work. Question is: Is it an acceptable price to pay? Then again, I am not trying to lose weight.

To be fair, Martin puts disclaimers on both of these things.

You might find there is no price at all to pay because (1) you have a good digestion and can consume large amounts of protein easily and (2) your body processes caffeine easily without making you stressed or ruining your sleep.

I fail on both of these counts, but I have friends who can do both. So: it’s individual. The key is to experiment for yourself.

Increase strength:

Martin’s exercise routine is called Reverse Pyramid Training.

Here’s a rough breakdown of how it works:

1. Exercise schedule: 3 days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
2. Each day has 2 compound exercises & 1 supplementary exercise.
3. Put it all into every set. Don’t save it up. (after warming up)
4. Rest 3 minutes or more between each set.
5. Reduce load by 5-10% per set. 10% for the big compound lifts. 5% for everything else.
6. After you can do 8 reps (or whatever your goal is) in the first set, increase the load by 2,5% for next session.
7. Repeat!

“You need to grunt and strain under heavy pressure for this to work.”

Regarding warm-up:

“Keep your warm-ups separate from your work set. No half-assed sets that aren’t challenging enough to be a real set, but hard enough to cause fatigue. I see a lot of this shit in the gym, where you can’t really tell if the person is doing a limp-dicked set or just taking his warm-up too far.

If you need rough guidelines, warm-up with 2-5 sets of 40-67% of your work set for deadlift, bench and squat. Personally, I use 2 sets for bench, the last being 2-3 x 67%. For deadlifts, I do 4-5, starting at 4-5 x 50% and ending at 2-3 x 67%. Same for squats. “

My Main Takeaways:

On Rows:

Start doing Seal Rows. It removes cheating.

On movement:

Always use full range of motion.

On deadlifts:

Stop after each lift.

Bending upper back is OK if you have the mobility, bending lower back is how you can get injured.

Don’t use straps or gloves.

Food advice.

Eating meat alone will cause the protein (amino acids) to be absorbed too quickly. Mixing with vegetables slows down absorption.

On vegetables:

Empty a bag of frozen vegetables & let it cook in its own water in the frying pan for 10 min. (I did not know this. I always used a big pot with lots of water.)

Inspiring Quotes:

“I had patience. Those who come across intermittent fasting today, don’t. Like gifting a Lamborghini to a brat who doesn’t know how to drive.”

“I can’t teach you patience, that comes with age and experience.”

“First Lesson: stop thinking in days, and start talking weeks.”

“Adherence is everything.”

“Graphs are a great tool to visualize long-term progress.”

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