Body for Life is a 12-week diet and exercise program, and also an annual physique transformation competition.. It was created by Bill Phillips, a former competitive bodybuilder and owner of EAS, a manufacturer of nutritional supplements. It has been by a bestselling book of the same name.
The first annual Body for Life competition was held in 1996. Entrants write about their experience of the program, and send this to EAS along with their 'before' and 'after' swimsuit photos. Prizes vary each year, but in 2005 the first prize was US$1,000,000.
Body for Life makes use of principles that have been widely known in bodybuilding. Its differences are in the way it has been packaged and marketed so as to appeal to consumers and be understood by the public. It supports an extensive ancillary industry of gyms, nutritionists and personal trainers.
Exercise[]
The human body adapts itself to changes in nutritional intake. If the calorie intake is reduced, the body responds by slowing down its metabolism, and by burning muscle in preference to fat Template:Fact. This reduces the metabolism long-term. When the diet comes to an end and normal calorie intake is restored, the individual starts to gain weight even faster than before. This is known as yo-yo dieting. Diets that focus exclusively on calorie reduction often fail in this way Template:Fact.
With these concerns in mind, Body for Life addresses energy expenditure (i.e. exercise) in addition to energy input. For best results, Body for Life holds that this exercise should include weight training to build skeletal muscle and increase the metabolism over the long term. This also helps to maximise the energy expenditure and fat loss from aerobic exercise.
Body for Life's exercise program is more complicated than its diet program. It suggests exercising six days a week, normally Monday to Saturday, and alternating between weight training and aerobic exercise. The seventh day, usually Sunday, is a rest day. Weight training sessions alternate between exercises for the upper body and exercises for the lower body. This allows the exercised muscles enough time to recover fully before the next training session.
Each fortnight follows the same pattern:
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |
| Week 1 | Upper-body Weight Training |
Aerobic Exercise |
Lower-body Weight Training |
Aerobic Exercise |
Upper-body Weight Training |
Aerobic Exercise |
Rest |
| Week 2 | Lower-body Weight Training |
Aerobic Exercise |
Upper-body Weight Training |
Aerobic Exercise |
Lower-body Weight Training |
Aerobic Exercise |
Rest |
Intensity index[]
Body for Life uses Gunnar Borg's Rating of Perceived Exertion (known as the Borg scale) for assessing the intensity of exercise based on how hard you feel you are working. It uses the variant developed by the American College of Sports Medicine, which uses a scale of 0 to 10:
- 0 is no exertion at all.
- 2 corresponds to very light exercise. For a healthy person, this is like walking slowly at their own pace for several minutes.
- 5 on the scale is somewhat hard exercise, but it still feels OK to continue.
- 8 is very strenuous. A healthy person can still go on, but they really have to push themselves. It feels very heavy, and the person is very tired.
- 9 on the scale is an extremely strenuous exercise level. For most people this is the most strenuous exercise they have ever experienced.
- 10 is maximal exertion: an all-out, 100% effort.
These levels accommodate differences in fitness. An unfit individual may require a level 10 effort to walk briskly uphill, whereas for a competitive athlete this may only be a level 3 effort. Over the course of the 12-week Body for Life program an individual would get noticeably fitter, so their intensity scale needs to be adjusted over time. This is considered normal.
Body for Life uses a "wave" pattern, periodically building up from level 5 to level 9 or 10 during an exercise session. This allows the muscles to warm up, and gives the body a chance to build up to a "high point" of maximal exertion. Brief but intense exercise provides maximum stimulus for the body to build strength and endurance, but without the risk of overtraining.
Weight training[]
The pushdown is used to exercise the triceps muscle.
Exercises for upper-body muscle groups include:
- "Pecs" (chest), e.g. bench press, pec-deck, incline flye.
- "Lats" (upper back), e.g. pull-down, bent-over row, dumbbell pullover.
- Deltoids (shoulders), e.g. upright row, shoulder press, lateral raise.
- Triceps (rear arms), e.g. push-down, triceps kickback, bench dip.
- Biceps (front arms), e.g. biceps curl, concentration curl, hammer curl.
Exercises for lower-body muscle groups include:
- Quadriceps (front legs), e.g. squat, leg press, leg extension.
- Hamstrings (rear legs), e.g. leg curl, lunge, glute-ham raise.
- Calves e.g. standing calf raise, seated calf raise.
- "Abs" (torso), e.g. crunch, reverse crunch, leg raise.
Most of these exercise can be performed using either dumbbells, a barbell, a Smith machine, a cable machine with adjustable pulleys or a specially-designed apparatus. Two exercises should be chosen for each muscle group. Five sets of the first exercise are performed, and then one set of the second. Weights for each set should be chosen so that the specified number of repetitions can be achieved at the specified level of intensity. For example:
| Chosen Exercise |
Chosen Weight |
Specified Repetitions |
Specified Intensity | |
| Set 1 | Leg Press | 100 lbs | 12 | 5 |
| Set 2 | Leg Press | 120 lbs | 10 | 6 |
| Set 3 | Leg Press | 140 lbs | 8 | 7 |
| Set 4 | Leg Press | 160 lbs | 6 | 8 |
| Set 5 | Leg Press | 140 lbs | 12 | 9 |
| Set 6 | Leg Extension | 50 lbs | 12 | 10 |
Weight training sessions proceed at a brisk pace, with one minute of rest between the first four sets for a muscle group, and no rest between the final two sets. The cadence for each repetition should be one second to lift the weight (while exhaling deeply), one second holding it at the top, two seconds to lower the weight (while inhaling deeply) and then one second pausing before the next repetition. Each session should be completed within about 45 minutes.
Intense aerobic exercise is an important part of Body for Life.
Aerobic exercise[]
Most forms of aerobic exercise are suitable. Common choices include walking or running (perhaps on a treadmill), cycling, swimming, or the use of a rowing machine or cross-trainer. However, exercise classes are generally not suitable, unless they are specifically designed to suit Body for Life.
Aerobic exercise sessions are limited to 20 minutes duration. They compensate for this by following the same "wave" pattern of steadily increasing intensity as the weight training sessions. During the first five-minute period the intensity should be gradually increased from 5 to 9. The second, third and fourth five-minute periods repeat this pattern, except that the last period should finish at an intensity of 10.
Phillips maintains that aerobic exercise is more effective for fat loss when done first thing in the morning, because it raises the metabolism for the remainder of the day, and because the body draws more heavily on its fat stores after fasting overnight.
Dietary Intake[]
One of the keys to this program is the types and amounts of food as well as the number of meals per day. There is a focus on decreasing the intake and increasing the quality of carbohydrates. Additionally, the dietary plan is to eat every 2-3 hours.
Body for Life books and videos[]
- Phillips, Bill. Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength. HarperCollins, 1999. (ISBN 0-06-019339-5)
- Phillips, Bill. Body for Life Success Journal. HarperCollins, 2002. (ISBN 0-06-051559-7)
- Phillips, Bill. Eating for Life: Your Guide to Great Health, Fat Loss and Increased Energy! High Point Media, 2003 (ISBN 0-9720184-1-7)
- Body of Work. Seventh Dream Pictures, 1998. (ASIN B0001H9T72)