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Beginner routine that doesn't work legs as much?

post #1 of 16
1/11/10 at 8:21am
Thread Starter 
So for some reason my body likes to store fat in my thighs because otherwise I'm pretty skinny all over. 5'7", 142 lbs, 29 waist, 37 chest. However, even straight jeans are tight in the thighs, there's a definite layer of fat covering my abs, and I know my bodyfat percentage is higher than I'd like. I picked up a copy of Starting Strength to learn about form, since I've never lifted weights before, but I did some research and it looks like the Starting Strength routine is really big on SQUAAAATS. I go to a kickboxing gym two to three times a week and I used to play soccer regularly, so I'm in decent shape. I'd like to lose bodyfat first, and then put on some muscle. What's a good routine or book on weightlifting for me?
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post #2 of 16
1/11/10 at 9:53am
Muscle and fat come together, it's a package deal. My entire lifting career 1 pound of fat has come with each pound of muscle gained, and those people who know what the hell theyre talking about generally report the same thing.

If gaining all that fat sounds scary, I will say that someone starting with a little chub and no muscle will look learner as you gain this strength. And the fat is pretty easy to cut while maintaining muscle whenever you decide it's time for that.


Anyways... I don't think a strength program is appropriate for your immediate goal of fitting into skinny jeans.
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post #3 of 16
1/11/10 at 10:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Riio View Post
So for some reason my body likes to store fat in my thighs because otherwise I'm pretty skinny all over. 5'7", 142 lbs, 29 waist, 37 chest. However, even straight jeans are tight in the thighs, there's a definite layer of fat covering my abs, and I know my bodyfat percentage is higher than I'd like.

I picked up a copy of Starting Strength to learn about form, since I've never lifted weights before, but I did some research and it looks like the Starting Strength routine is really big on SQUAAAATS. I go to a kickboxing gym two to three times a week and I used to play soccer regularly, so I'm in decent shape. I'd like to lose bodyfat first, and then put on some muscle. What's a good routine or book on weightlifting for me?

Warning: I read this in Men's Health, which isn't always the most reputable source, so YMMV:
The thing about SQUAAAATSSS and BEEEENCH and DEADLIFFFFFT is that compound exercizes with heavy weight up the amount of testosterone in your body, which ups your metabolism, which allows you to burn fat easier just doing your normal daily shit. Also, strong muscles burns the fat on top of them. If you intersperse one of the strength building programs with cardio, and maintain your diet, you should burn off a bunch of that excess fat.

Tho, kunk probably knows way more about this shit than i do.
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post #4 of 16
1/11/10 at 10:54am
Dropping that last 2-3% of bodyfat is usally about diet.
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post #5 of 16
1/11/10 at 11:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by GraphicNovelty View Post
Warning: I read this in Men's Health, which isn't always the most reputable source, so YMMV:
The thing about SQUAAAATSSS and BEEEENCH and DEADLIFFFFFT is that compound exercizes with heavy weight up the amount of testosterone in your body, which ups your metabolism, which allows you to burn fat easier just doing your normal daily shit. Also, strong muscles burns the fat on top of them. If you intersperse one of the strength building programs with cardio, and maintain your diet, you should burn off a bunch of that excess fat.

Tho, kunk probably knows way more about this shit than i do.

+1. build muscle, the fat will drop off
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post #6 of 16
1/11/10 at 12:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GraphicNovelty View Post
Warning: I read this in Men's Health, which isn't always the most reputable source, so YMMV:
The thing about SQUAAAATSSS and BEEEENCH and DEADLIFFFFFT is that compound exercizes with heavy weight up the amount of testosterone in your body, which ups your metabolism, which allows you to burn fat easier just doing your normal daily shit. Also, strong muscles burns the fat on top of them. If you intersperse one of the strength building programs with cardio, and maintain your diet, you should burn off a bunch of that excess fat.

Tho, kunk probably knows way more about this shit than i do.

Pretty much totally false.
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post #7 of 16
1/11/10 at 12:14pm
^c'mon why, provide a better answer. i know you have one. (seriously)
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post #8 of 16
1/11/10 at 12:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GraphicNovelty View Post
Warning: I read this in Men's Health, which isn't always the most reputable source, so YMMV: The thing about SQUAAAATSSS and BEEEENCH and DEADLIFFFFFT is that compound exercizes with heavy weight up the amount of testosterone in your body, which ups your metabolism, which allows you to burn fat easier just doing your normal daily shit. Also, strong muscles burns the fat on top of them. If you intersperse one of the strength building programs with cardio, and maintain your diet, you should burn off a bunch of that excess fat. Tho, kunk probably knows way more about this shit than i do.
One, the increases in GH in response to fullbody movements is irrelevant to anything. Two, every pound of muscle increases daily energy expenditure at rest by ~15 calories, which is also irrelevant to anything. As for "strong mucle burning the fat on top of it"... WTF does this even mean? As opposed to weak muscle? Or opposed to Visceral fat? I guess all those fat powerlifters And naturally big/strong fat people don't have strong muscle, otherwise it would magically burn all the fat away. This statement is almost too stupid to even address. Stop reading menshealth with the expectation of learning anything useful, with the exception of Alan Aragon's stuff.
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post #9 of 16
1/11/10 at 3:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by thekunk07 View Post
^c'mon why, provide a better answer. i know you have one. (seriously)

Primarily, the idea of 'compound movements' is just an undefined category that presupposes a magical release of testosterone when the joints are aligned in some specific manner. It's overtly silly, and that's the main problem.

But beyond that, assuming that 'compound movements' really is referring to workload placed on the body, the concept is still false. The vast majority of people do not have testosterone deficiency, so the need for more to be released isn't there. Most testosterone is bound by SHBG and flows in the blood until it is unbound and can be bound to cellular receptors. Other excess testosterone is metabolized into other hormones (usually estradiol and dihydrotestosterone). If deadlifts and squats really did 'release more testosterone', they'd likely grow prostate and breast tissue faster than biceps. That's why the body has mechanisms to deal with excess hormones.

Secondly, specific to 'fat burning', testosterone doesn't burn fat. It's induces lipolysis, meaning it facilitates the release of fat from adipose tissue. Once in the bloodstream, the fat still needs to be oxidized for energy. If for some reason a large amount of free testosterone acted on adipose tissue and released large amounts of fat into the bloodstream, fats that go unused will still be recombined with glycerol and stored again unless they were used for energy by bodily tissues. Testosterone has no inherent ability to oxidize fatty acids. Even still, it's one of many hormones and its ability to induce lipolysis is a drop in the pond compared to others way more powerful.
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post #10 of 16
1/11/10 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by why View Post
Primarily, the idea of 'compound movements' is just an undefined category that presupposes a magical release of testosterone when the joints are aligned in some specific manner. It's overtly silly, and that's the main problem.

But beyond that, assuming that 'compound movements' really is referring to workload placed on the body, the concept is still false. The vast majority of people do not have testosterone deficiency, so the need for more to be released isn't there. Most testosterone is bound by SHBG and flows in the blood until it is unbound and can be bound to cellular receptors. Other excess testosterone is metabolized into other hormones (usually estradiol and dihydrotestosterone). If deadlifts and squats really did 'release more testosterone', they'd likely grow prostate and breast tissue faster than biceps. That's why the body has mechanisms to deal with excess hormones.

Secondly, specific to 'fat burning', testosterone doesn't burn fat. It's a lipolytic hormone, meaning it releases fat from adipose tissue. Once in the bloodstream, the fat still needs to be freed from glycerol to make the fatty acids free, and then these need to enter skeletal or cardiac tissue to be oxidized for energy. If for some reason a large amount of free testosterone acted on adipose tissue and released large amounts of fat into the bloodstream, fats that go unused will still be recombined with glycerol and stored again unless they were used for energy by bodily tissues. Testosterone has no inherent ability to oxidize fatty acids. Even still, it's one of many lipolytic hormones and its ability to release fat stores is a drop in the pond compared to others way more powerful.

ok, but doesn't muscle mass burn more calories than fat does? it seems that pretty much everything that I have read indicates that fat is more "effetient" than muscle, and so if your body has 50 pounds of fat and 100 pounds of muscle it will burn less than if you have 100 pounds of fat and 50 pounds of muscle.

seriously, I am not being argumentative, I am curious now.
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post #11 of 16
1/11/10 at 3:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by globetrotter View Post
ok, but doesn't muscle mass burn more calories than fat does? it seems that pretty much everything that I have read indicates that fat is more "effetient" than muscle, and so if your body has 50 pounds of fat and 100 pounds of muscle it will burn less than if you have 100 pounds of fat and 50 pounds of muscle.

seriously, I am not being argumentative, I am curious now.

Yes, but the difference is negligible. I saw a study on it yesterday, let me see if I can find the numbers. Also, keep in mind even something 'small' like 20lbs. of actual lean tissue is really a huge amount.

Muscle is more metabolically active (I think that's the term) than fat, but just carrying around extra weight requires more work to be done and therefore more energy to be expended. It's kinda like why an SUV uses more gas than a coupe.

Edit: it's something like 7 calories/lb. for muscle and 2 calories/lb. for fat. I can't access the study. Either way, it doesn't matter since there's a lot more going on in the body than fat/muscle ratio.
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post #12 of 16
1/11/10 at 4:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by why View Post
Yes, but the difference is negligible. I saw a study on it yesterday, let me see if I can find the numbers. Also, keep in mind even something 'small' like 20lbs. of actual lean tissue is really a huge amount.

Muscle is more metabolically active (I think that's the term) than fat, but just carrying around extra weight requires more work to be done and therefore more energy to be expended. It's kinda like why an SUV uses more gas than a coupe.

Edit: it's something like 7 calories/lb. for muscle and 2 calories/lb. for fat. I can't access the study. Either way, it doesn't matter since there's a lot more going on in the body than fat/muscle ratio.

per day? fuck.
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post #13 of 16
1/11/10 at 6:41pm
Thread Starter 
thanks for the discussion so far, i'm eager to learn about this stuff. i realize that diet is an important factor, and even though what i put into my body is pretty healthy, my eating schedule itself is pretty out of whack, which i'll work on correcting. so if my immediate goal is to lose bodyfat and make these thunder thighs nice and pretty, how should i go about incorporating weightlifting into my exercise?
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post #14 of 16
1/11/10 at 6:50pm
deca, dbol, McDonald's, one set a week and rest
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post #15 of 16
1/11/10 at 7:29pm
Your legs aren't going to blow up after you finish a set of squats. Figure out your BMR, eat 500 calories less than that per day, and work hard in the gym. Starting Strength is a very good program for a beginner, but you need to follow it fairly strictly.
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