T
trevor
Guest
Hi everyone! Okay, I am certainly not an expert but I have alot of workout experience, mainly on my own with Cathe, the gym, or any of a number of different types of activities through the years. I have also doen kickboxing, spin, a little yoga, and a bunch of other classes as well. I am also a former mountain bike racer. I know how to keep myself in shape that's for sure.
I am starting to read alot of posts from people who have alot of questions about whether they are doing things correctly for fat loss, definition, or even perhaps muscling up a bit.
Well the quick answer is that "correct" means whatever works for you. You have to experiment, be willing to change things up, and be open minded about it a bit.
Just to let you know, I am a hard-gainer, meaning I have a naturally high metabolism and a thin frame. Last fall I was 6 foot/165 to 168 pounds. And too thin in my mind. So I changed things up tremendously from any style of working out I had ever done. I had always changed stuff around, but I found I was wasting alot of time, especially with cardio. So with alot of playing around I have finally recently got the body about where I want it. It's still a work in progress of course. LOL! But I am now at 6 feet/190 pounds and holding the weight on, which was always a problem. I have gotten alot of comments about how I look more solid than before. I feel great too. And I have added alot of muscle along without losing my cardio capacity, which was always my strong point.
I am going to list 'talking points"....LOL!! for what I am doing now that some of you might be interested in. If your goals are fat loss along with muscle gain then give it a try. A little tweaking may be in order because people are different of course. Here's my plan:
1. I stopped killing myself with 45 min or 1 hour cardio sessions where I just lolly-gagged along.
2. I re-introduced cardio using what basically amounts to HIT, or high intensity interval training. This type of training involves intensity and explosiveness, which is great for fat burning and muscle.
3. For me, this means I usually do 20 to 30 mins. 3 times a week of high intensity intervals. Example---20 mins on treadmill where for 2 mins I do a 8 min per mile pace and then 1 min going 6:15 per mile pace. Then repeat.
4. Doesn't sound like much but try it. I guarantee a killer cardio session with better reults than just jogging 6 miles.
5. Mix up the cardio FREQUENTLY or you will burn out. Remember that you don't necessarily have to move fast to get the heart rate up. Example-- this week I was sick of sprint type work, so I used the stairmaster on manual mode and did it for 30 mins. 2 times, taking 2 steps at a time until I couldn't take anymore, slowed down a bit,then speeded up again, etc. And I EXPLODED thru the step movement. My heart rate was VERY high!!
6. You can incorporate Cathe into this....hell she's an intensity freak! For me though, I might just do IMAX and to hold the time down a bit I might only do the really intense parts, or combine it with something else.
7. I use stairmaster, treadmill, elliptical when at the club. I also mix in classes like spin when I can. Outside it's mountain biking, inline skates, hill sprints.....ANYTHING where the heart rate goes up.
8. Get yourself an HR monitor, figure your work range CORRECTLY, or close to correct, using the Karvonen formula. I keep myself at 70% to 85% of Karvonen max most of the time. If I go off that scale I either speed up or slow down accordingly.
9. Any cardio nuts in here who do like an hour or more a day of cardio, that is cool. But for ME, that's wasted time because it shreds hard earned muscle off of me. Plus, I have a life outside training! LOL! It also comes down to goals. Long distance is ok if it makes you feel good, or if you are a competitive runner or something like that. But for me, I want a muscular sprinter type body and what I am outlining here is giving it to me.
10. As for weights----SUPERSETS SUPERSETS SUPERSETS!!!!! OR TRISETS, TRISETS TRISETS!!! This month I am supersetting like muscles using pre-exhaust method. This is where you pre-exhaust using an isolation move, then jump to another exercise for same group and do that. An example might be leg extensions followed by squats. Supersets save time. They are mostly a BODYSHAPING type of training and less so for pure strength. So keep that in mind.
11. I do try to improve about 5 pounds on all exercises say every 2 weeks or so.
12. Change up exercises every month or month and a half. Change lifting speeds also.
13. I train with the purpose of attempting to hit type1 and 2 muscle fibers based on some articles I have read. So for instance I will do 3 sets with heavy weight for 8-9 reps to hit the type 2 fibers. I "explode" thru the lift phase, then it's 4 seconds on the negative. The negative is VERY important for muscle development. The 4th set is low weight/high rep to hit the slow twitch type 1 fibers. For me that means 30 reps done slowly. It burns soooooooooo badly and you will be dying at the end if you have the weight chosen correctly.
14. Again change it up. Next month I may go 2 heavy set and 2 light ones, or 3 and 2. Just so long as you don't allow yourself to get in a rut or let your body get used to anything.
Think I covered everything and I gotta run!
Replies are welcome!
Trevor
I am starting to read alot of posts from people who have alot of questions about whether they are doing things correctly for fat loss, definition, or even perhaps muscling up a bit.
Well the quick answer is that "correct" means whatever works for you. You have to experiment, be willing to change things up, and be open minded about it a bit.
Just to let you know, I am a hard-gainer, meaning I have a naturally high metabolism and a thin frame. Last fall I was 6 foot/165 to 168 pounds. And too thin in my mind. So I changed things up tremendously from any style of working out I had ever done. I had always changed stuff around, but I found I was wasting alot of time, especially with cardio. So with alot of playing around I have finally recently got the body about where I want it. It's still a work in progress of course. LOL! But I am now at 6 feet/190 pounds and holding the weight on, which was always a problem. I have gotten alot of comments about how I look more solid than before. I feel great too. And I have added alot of muscle along without losing my cardio capacity, which was always my strong point.
I am going to list 'talking points"....LOL!! for what I am doing now that some of you might be interested in. If your goals are fat loss along with muscle gain then give it a try. A little tweaking may be in order because people are different of course. Here's my plan:
1. I stopped killing myself with 45 min or 1 hour cardio sessions where I just lolly-gagged along.
2. I re-introduced cardio using what basically amounts to HIT, or high intensity interval training. This type of training involves intensity and explosiveness, which is great for fat burning and muscle.
3. For me, this means I usually do 20 to 30 mins. 3 times a week of high intensity intervals. Example---20 mins on treadmill where for 2 mins I do a 8 min per mile pace and then 1 min going 6:15 per mile pace. Then repeat.
4. Doesn't sound like much but try it. I guarantee a killer cardio session with better reults than just jogging 6 miles.
5. Mix up the cardio FREQUENTLY or you will burn out. Remember that you don't necessarily have to move fast to get the heart rate up. Example-- this week I was sick of sprint type work, so I used the stairmaster on manual mode and did it for 30 mins. 2 times, taking 2 steps at a time until I couldn't take anymore, slowed down a bit,then speeded up again, etc. And I EXPLODED thru the step movement. My heart rate was VERY high!!
6. You can incorporate Cathe into this....hell she's an intensity freak! For me though, I might just do IMAX and to hold the time down a bit I might only do the really intense parts, or combine it with something else.
7. I use stairmaster, treadmill, elliptical when at the club. I also mix in classes like spin when I can. Outside it's mountain biking, inline skates, hill sprints.....ANYTHING where the heart rate goes up.
8. Get yourself an HR monitor, figure your work range CORRECTLY, or close to correct, using the Karvonen formula. I keep myself at 70% to 85% of Karvonen max most of the time. If I go off that scale I either speed up or slow down accordingly.
9. Any cardio nuts in here who do like an hour or more a day of cardio, that is cool. But for ME, that's wasted time because it shreds hard earned muscle off of me. Plus, I have a life outside training! LOL! It also comes down to goals. Long distance is ok if it makes you feel good, or if you are a competitive runner or something like that. But for me, I want a muscular sprinter type body and what I am outlining here is giving it to me.
10. As for weights----SUPERSETS SUPERSETS SUPERSETS!!!!! OR TRISETS, TRISETS TRISETS!!! This month I am supersetting like muscles using pre-exhaust method. This is where you pre-exhaust using an isolation move, then jump to another exercise for same group and do that. An example might be leg extensions followed by squats. Supersets save time. They are mostly a BODYSHAPING type of training and less so for pure strength. So keep that in mind.
11. I do try to improve about 5 pounds on all exercises say every 2 weeks or so.
12. Change up exercises every month or month and a half. Change lifting speeds also.
13. I train with the purpose of attempting to hit type1 and 2 muscle fibers based on some articles I have read. So for instance I will do 3 sets with heavy weight for 8-9 reps to hit the type 2 fibers. I "explode" thru the lift phase, then it's 4 seconds on the negative. The negative is VERY important for muscle development. The 4th set is low weight/high rep to hit the slow twitch type 1 fibers. For me that means 30 reps done slowly. It burns soooooooooo badly and you will be dying at the end if you have the weight chosen correctly.
14. Again change it up. Next month I may go 2 heavy set and 2 light ones, or 3 and 2. Just so long as you don't allow yourself to get in a rut or let your body get used to anything.
Think I covered everything and I gotta run!
Replies are welcome!
Trevor
