Critique My Health Routine

[juliank]

Originally Posted by Scrumhalf

Try the core routine I gave you. I would also throw in Russian twists to vary things around. Think broader than just abs.... think core. Everything becomes easier in life with a strong core - lifting things around the house, loading and unloading groceries from the car, picking up your son when he is an unwieldy squirming 60-something lbs, etc..

Plus you get injured less. All those niggling back aches, pulled muscles, etc. are a thing of the past after I started focusing on the core as a major muscle group that needs to be taken as seriously as anything else.

thanks sir. i am going to implement that core routine you posted and see where i am at in 4 weeks with it.

 

[Hartmann]

Originally Posted by Scrumhalf

+1. I think people often significantly underestimate their work capacity. As corny as it might seem, it took my viewing of the Navy SEAL BUD/S Discovery Channel DVD to understand this. You can push yourself far beyond what you thought was capable if you put your mind to it. Burnout may be real but the horizon where burnout sets in is often much farther than one thinks. Worrying too much about burnout is often used as an excuse to wimp out of pushing oneself, so I always hesitate to invoke the b-word. It is for each person to find their limits and not prescribe to any generic notion of what's possible.
I agree that when you decide to push yourself beyond your limits you'll often be surprised at how far you can go. That said, I think there's a big difference between a situation where you're expected to push yourself to "survive" (either selection/training/real life) and a routine where the primary goal is fat loss. I also imagine the SEAL guys go into their training at close to peak fitness and don't go out and lift heavy weights purely for strength work on top of all the endurance/exhaustion stuff, but iono. I thought the OP was just launching into a new routine and was overestimating his ability, I know I had the same growing pains when I was starting out...

 

[Scrumhalf]

I didn't suggset that everyone can do Navy SEAL stuff. My only point in drawing that comparison was that often, one's limits are further out than one thinks, so it is to each person to keep pushing oneself until the body gives feedback that overtraining has set in. You see that in Ross Enamait's approach as well. He has a pretty intense combination of lifting for strength and explosiveness mixed in with conditioning workouts, interval runs, etc. Plus he does core 4-5 days a week. All of this sounds like it violates the conventional views of overtraining, but the more I immerse myself into Ross' philosophy, the more I realize that my own personal capacity was quite a bit more than I thought. At 44, I easily exert myself more than when I was 10 years younger, with no adverse effect.

 

[Automated Response]

Originally Posted by TRA8324

He's 5'6" and wants to weigh 140lbs. 1700 calories is not too low.
I disagree. When I responded, I thought the '6' in his height listing was an '8', but this changes very little. If he's eating 1500 calories a day, and his RMR is a THOUSAND calories higher than that - and he's going to be as active as he's planning to be - this is probably going to contribute to him burning out MUCH faster than his exercise routine. That said, it sounds like single digit body fat is his primary target here, and not the weight. Targeting a number on a scale, and not an ideal body composition, is what I might refer to as a 'chick mistake'. Girls (and some guys...) who don't know any better always seem to care so much about 'their weight', but I don't give a **** what a girl weighs. I've hooked up with 6'0 girls who weighed close to 175 pounds and had unreal bodies, and I've done the same with 5'2 girls who weighed 105 pounds and had ****** bodies. Numbers, with relation to weight, are extremely arbitrary and almost meaningless outside of the bigger picture. Especially when you consider that skeletal tissue and muscle weigh a hell of a lot more than ***** tissue does. If he wants to lean out that much - and STAY lean - then he MUST build muscle (muscle tissue basically eat calories like crazy). To build muscle, he needs to eat more calories. Because right now, he's probably eating HALF of his maintenance calories. A 400 calorie a day deficit, with adequate fat and protein intake, will dial him in to where he wants to be, with his training schedule. And if he eats some more food, the results may even have him looking like a man, instead of a high school freshman. Not to church it up, but this is coming from a D-1 athlete on a top-10 team, and somebody who formerly endured the caliber of military training you guys are talking about. My best friend is also a nutritionist who works with military and D-1 football & basketball teams. I have him on speed dial, and I actually just got off of the phone with him an hour ago. I have also both gained and lost over 60 pounds in a matter of months. I know a little bit about body composition, training, and effecting change with diet. Just my two cents. Take it for what it's worth.

 

[jarude]

Originally Posted by Automated Response

I disagree. When I responded, I thought the '6' in his height listing was an '8', but this changes very little. If he's eating 1500 calories a day, and his RMR is a THOUSAND calories higher than that - and he's going to be as active as he's planning to be - this is probably going to contribute to him burning out MUCH faster than his exercise routine.

That said, it sounds like single digit body fat is his primary target here, and not the weight. Targeting a number on a scale, and not an ideal body composition, is what I might refer to as a 'chick mistake'. Girls (and some guys...) who don't know any better always seem to care so much about 'their weight', but I don't give a **** what a girl weighs. I've hooked up with 6'0 girls who weighed close to 175 pounds and had unreal bodies, and I've done the same with 5'2 girls who weighed 105 pounds and had ****** bodies. Numbers, with relation to weight, are extremely arbitrary and almost meaningless outside of the bigger picture. Especially when you consider that skeletal tissue and muscle weigh a hell of a lot more than ***** tissue does.

If he wants to lean out that much, he MUST build muscle. To build muscle, he needs to eat more calories. Because right now, he's probably eating HALF of his maintenance calories. A 400 calorie a day deficit, with adequate fat and protein intake, will dial him in to where he wants to be, with this training schedule. And he may even look like a man, instead of a high school freshman.

Not to church it up, but this is coming from a D-1 athlete on a top-10 team, and somebody who formerly endured the caliber of military training you guys are talking about. My best friend is also a nutritionist who works with military and D-1 football & basketball teams. I have him on speed dial, and I actually just got off of the phone with him an hour ago. I have also both gained and lost over 60 pounds in a matter of months. I know a little bit about body composition, training, and effecting change with diet.

hooking up with girls reference? check

knows what the **** he's talking about, dawg? check

knows a guy? check

military training? check

 

[Hartmann]

Yeah, cool story bro, etc.

 

[Automated Response]

Haha, you guys really are legitimately funny.

Definitely ignore the part where I stated it was just my two cents, and to take my perspective for whatever it might be worth, which I tried to qualify. If it was a little Brohan Solo, I hope you got a good laugh out of it.

Knee-jerk sarcasm is so clever.

 

[shibbel]

OP, I just hope you have a plan B if (you'll probably sustain some type of injury before you get there) you reach your goal. I've seen this happen a 100x, guys go nuts with cardio/weights/diet for 3 months, hit the goal and are back to normal in terms of body composition 6 months later. What's the point of all this if you're not going to stay at or below 10% bf for a while?

What you're doing now will get you there because it's overkill- just have a plan when you get there, because this is no where near sustainable.

I would scale the cardio way back to a couple HIIT sessions a week, stick with all the compound moves, and up the calories but kill the carbs.

 

[juliank]

UPDATE:

You guys wanted me to give you one so here it is.

I am now at 147 lbs, 11 % BF ! Hoping to get down to 8% within 6-8 weeks. I maintained my energy in spite of my caloric deficit however I did tweak some aspect of my diet which gave me tremendous results. REFEEDS of carbs once a week where I eat at maintenance. Everything else stayed the same more or less, I eat about 200-300 calories more on lifting days and go back down to 1600 cals on non lifting days. I also implemented Scrumhalf's routine which has also helped. I am finally starting to see the top part of my abs; haha I thought they were gone.

I also added yoga 2X a week but it's hatha, so it's very gentle just for flexibility. In fact, I have noticed that it has helped my weight lifting. One other thing that I found strange is that in spite of the fact that I am running at a 600-900 caloric deficit depending on the day, my lifts have increased ! WTF. My squats have jumped by about 50 lbs, my leg presses also and my bench presses have increased by 30 lbs. That said, I don't think my muscle mass increased but it's nice to see the added strength.

 

[Monaco]

It is a bit weird, if you are hitting your compounds like you say, your abs shouldn't require any extra work.

I think you have a decent program going on right now, good call on the once a week carb refeed, that is important. Keep at it and report back.

 

[juliank]

Originally Posted by Monaco

It is a bit weird, if you are hitting your compounds like you say, your abs shouldn't require any extra work.

I think you have a decent program going on right now, good call on the once a week carb refeed, that is important. Keep at it and report back.

Monaco, from all the research I've done I've never heard such a thing. Are you saying that I can get rock hard abs without having to do any isolated ab exercises ?

 

[Scrumhalf]

I would keep the ab work. There's no doubt that squats and DLs will give you core strength but there's a lot to be said for focused core work. It's not just crunches, it incorporates things like hanging leg raises, Russian twists, ab rollouts, etc. which target the entire core vs. just abs. I think core work is often neglected to the detriment of functional fitness.

 

[rjmaiorano]

Originally Posted by juliank

Monaco, from all the research I've done I've never heard such a thing. Are you saying that I can get rock hard abs without having to do any isolated ab exercises ?

Jesus. yes.

 

[rjmaiorano]

Originally Posted by Automated Response

Haha, you guys really are legitimately funny.

Definitely ignore the part where I stated it was just my two cents, and to take my perspective for whatever it might be worth, which I tried to qualify. If it was a little Brohan Solo, I hope you got a good laugh out of it.

Knee-jerk sarcasm is so clever.

No one here cares how much you know. We are all ******* names on a board. I am not doubting you are who you say you are, but boasting about it proves nothing. Personally I think my creds are just as good as yours, but I can't prove that ****, so whatever.

Only mother ****** I ever actually trusted here as 'Why' and he doesn't post in H&B cause I'm guessing he got sick of the bullshit.


But whatevs... Heres to saying that the OP will lose a ton of muscle if he maintains that amount strength work on such low calories. He'll lose weight sure, but compromising muscle blows. Slow it the **** down and tweak as needed.

 

[juliank]

Originally Posted by rjmaiorano

No one here cares how much you know. We are all ******* names on a board. I am not doubting you are who you say you are, but boasting about it proves nothing. Personally I think my creds are just as good as yours, but I can't prove that ****, so whatever.

Only mother ****** I ever actually trusted here as 'Why' and he doesn't post in H&B cause I'm guessing he got sick of the bullshit.


But whatevs... Heres to saying that the OP will lose a ton of muscle if he maintains that amount strength work on such low calories. He'll lose weight sure, but compromising muscle blows. Slow it the **** down and tweak as needed.

From what I have researched it seems the general consensus seems to be that if I am lifting more weight and getting stronger as the weeks pass that I am not losing muscle. I have lost 2lbs a week (no more no less) for 10 weeks straight now. My macros are on point.

That said, these last 8 weeks I do plan on upping the calories just a hair so that I only lose 1.5 lbs a week. The main reason I am doing this is not because I think I am losing muscle but because I want to maintain a low bodyfat % as a lifetime thing. Obviously I am well aware that for many people on here what I am doing sounds like I am right on the line, but honestly I haven't felt this good in over a decade. It's a crazy feeling and one that I don't want to sabotage by overplaying my hand but at the same time by not capitulating to naysayers on message boards.