Look, the reason that super intense workout programs are so popular is because everyone wants to believe they can out-work their diet. It isn't possible.
Most people still believe, that even with an awesome diet, they still need to have a really kick-ass workout program. Also not true.
If your diet is right, you can actually get away with a pretty bare bones workout. I'm going to tell you something radical: If your diet is really awesome, then you might not even *want* to get crazy on your workouts.
My friend and world famous strength coach and kettlebell trainer Dan John put it best in his article at T-Nation last week Tough or Reasonable. More or less, he said that you can do a tough diet and a reasonable workout, or you can do a tough workout and a reasonable diet, but most people are going to have a hard time doing both at the same time.
And this would fit with my experience.
Workout First, Diet Second
People training for the RKC Certification ask me all of the time what their diet should be. Mostly I tell them to eat as much as they need to to support the prep workouts they are doing. Workout comes first, diet comes second. And by putting their workout first, they get a lot stronger.
The other question I get, in the same vein, is people asking me if they can lose 10 pounds of fat and while they are working on getting their deadlift up another 50 pounds. Of course I tell them that they can do both – in phases. Each phase, they need to pick which one is more important to them.
Same thing when my clients train for triathlons or marathons. I tell them that during their endurance training, they're probably going to get a little fatter. They need to eat to support their event, and we can get back to fat loss when they are done.
If getting stronger is most important to you, put it first, and work on fat loss later.
Diet First, Workout Second
This totally blows people's minds. And yet, it's so the obvious route if fat loss is your goal: Put the diet first.
Don't lose track of the fact that your workout is supposed to support your fat loss. Like I posted in last week's article about strength standards for fat loss "How To Know What's More Important, Workout or Diet", if the diet isn't the most important thing in your fat loss world right now, at some point in the future it will be.
So if your diet is the number one thing that makes the absolute most difference… why not put it first?
Tough Diet, Reasonable Workout
So, using Dan John's terminology, why not go ahead and play this game for real:
Let's do the absolute most awesome diet possible
And we'll create space and energy to put into that diet…
…by doing a simple and reasonable workout program
And you'll get uncommon results like you never have before in your life.
How you know it will work: It's actually the most obvious thing to do, and you've never done it before.
Are You Willing To Be Completely Unrecognizable? 
If you have the balls to put your diet first for six weeks, you can get results like you have never seen before in your life. At that point you can re-assess, whether or not you want to keep getting awesome results, or if you want to try something else.
Forget about doing the newest/best/craziest workout… and put your energy into going to the store, getting the food you need, preparing it ahead of time, following the plan, and eating what's going to make a difference for your body right now.
Stop talking about someday doing what you need to do.
Stop wondering what would happen if you put the important part first.
Just actually do it.
Put the most important part first, and then lose the inches and pounds and jiggle that you actually know you would lose if you put the diet first. Get the lean hot athletic sexy body that is the natural result of putting the diet first.
And Yes, That Macro Patterning Diet Program The Four Cycle Solution is on sale for another three days:
It's a diet that's worthy of being put first:
Like I said yesterday, I think the phases are genius.
It is a pretty advanced diet, and the science backs every bit of it – it's the fastest fat loss that you could ever get out of a nutrition program.
I'm not going to sugar coat it though, there's work to be done. It is a step more than most diets.
If you are at a place in your life where you are willing to put the diet first, and put in the work, you'll get the results you want.
And most of the clients I normally get fall into that category – you'll follow the program, you just want a program that works.
Macro Patterning™ is as good as it gets, backed up both by the research on fat loss, and the anecdotal evedince of people using it.
If you are willing to do a really smart, but tough program, you'll get the natural results of the work you put in:
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