Peak Performance

(Thursday, April 01, 2004) - WHEN ATHLETES SUCH AS NFL running backs need to chisel more fat off their superbly toned bodies they don't just ramp up their workouts. They also eat differently, or "lean out." Leaning out isn't much fun – endless days of oatmeal, grilled chicken breast, and brown rice – but nothing beats it for shaving seconds off your 40 time and shredding up your abs for SportsCenter. Yet until prospective first-round draft choice Vince Wilfork showed up at the Jacksonville, Florida, HIT Center, no one had tried to lean out a 350-pound defensive lineman with his own table at Taco Bell. Having declared his eligibility after his junior season at the University of Miami, Wilfork has been projected to go as high as number one and as low as number 32 in the April 24 draft. "I know one team that has him right there at the top of their list," said Pro Football Weekly draft specialist Nolan Nawrocki over the winter. "But teams are concerned that he needs to lose weight." Given that the difference between last year's number one and number 32 picks was $43 million, the stakes are certainly high. But could it be done? For that matter could they even get a decent baseline reading on him? "It was interesting getting him the Bod Pod," recalls HIT's Aaron Marston of his attempts to squeeze Wilfork into the center's body fat-analysis machine. "He's a big man." Peak Performance Men's Journal – Steve Steinberg – April 2004 A lot of today's diets (read: Atkins) try to trick people into believing that they really aren't on a diet. The HIT Center's "Lighten-Up" program doesn't go in for tricks. The theory: If you are intent on transforming your body quickly, you're going to be on a diet. If you came to Marston and asked him to help lean you out, one of the first things he'd do is have you start every meal by reducing the amount of food you usually put on your plate by a fourth. But it is not about punishment: Lighten-Up's second main principle is limit white food, namely the sugars and other refined carbohydrates that break down quickly in your stomach and make you hungrier between meals. When eating your three-quarter plate of pasta, for example, increase the ratio of sauce to noodles; on sandwiches replace white bread with seven grain; at breakfast substitute an egg white omelet for cereal; gulp water instead of soda of Gatorade. And then start cutting back on fat, subbing chicken wherever possible for beef, Jarlsberg for Swiss, and on days when you can't stand to look at another grilled chicken breast, opting for the lean roast beef or petite fillet over the New York strip. If this sounds simple, it is – which isn't to say that it's not a shock. "For the first five days, I was, like, "Man, I can't do this," says Wilfork. But shocking the system is part of what getting in the best shape of your life is all about: Literally and figuratively, it keeps you a little hungry. By February Wilfork had slimmed down to 320 pounds, and his body fat had dropped from 30 percent to 25 percent. His vertical leap had also climbed three inches, and his speed in the three-cone speed drill had gone from 8.7 seconds to 7.7. "Is he really down that far?" asked astonished Nawrocki when informed of the results of the grand experiment. "That is going to seriously open some people's eyes." The HIT Center 690 Lakeview Plaza Blvd. Suite H Worthington, OH. 43085 614-825-4484 worthington@hitcenters.com www.hitcenters.com

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