Monday fitness questions...
Discussion
Right, so I have spent the last 2 months getting back into shape after over a year of neglecting my fitness. Now pretty much where I want to be – have lost a load of body fat and put on a decent amount of muscle, feeling energetic and sleeping well. A stone in weight lost, 3 inches on the waist.
Problem is this – While I wouldn’t mind losing a bit more fat, I don’t want to lose the muscle I have. Initially, when you train, you can lose fat and build muscle, as I have done (I’m not sure why this is possible for beginners – it just seems to be).
Basically, what do I do now?
Weights:
Do I carry on increasing my weights (I don’t really want to get much bigger than I am now on my upper body as that would become a little to disproportionate – I’m not that tall, so don’t particularly wish to look like a steroid abusing munchkin), or do I just now keep them at where they are as a “maintenance” regime? Can I use heavier weights but only do 2 sets instead of 3, minimising time in the gym? Do I keep my weights regime as it is, but go twice a week instead of four times a week?
Cardio:
Presume I carry on with this – was doing 45 minutes 5 times a week, presume I have to stay with this? Don’t want to lose muscle...
Food:
Hardest bit. I reckon that 75% of what I’ve achieved has been from eating better (or rather, just eating less). Evenings have been soup instead of pasta, I have had a protein shake for breakfast after training (used to be a Starbucks and a Marlboro light), have given up Starbucks/Nero etc during the day, have not been drinking in the week (except for a couple of Thursday nights, resulting in the carnage documented elsewhere on the forum) and have not been having 3 courses and a bottle of wine twice a week – these days a client lunch for me involves 2 starters, or a salad, and one glass of wine, or lime & soda. And I have simply been avoiding lunches – now that I am back out there seeing clients, and have a lot of lunches, not having a dirty great steak with trimmings and a vat of red wine is difficult when everyone else around you is filling their boots. Weekends will be as they always were – throughout the last 2 months I have continued to go out and get smashed at the weekend and eat whetever I want – but simply found that my appetite was smaller due to eating less during the week, so tended to eat less anyway. So I am assuming that to continue fat loss, I have to still be on a bit less than my daily calorific requirement – fine. But will that at some stage start eating away at the muscle I have managed to gain over the last 2 months?
Help, discussion etc appreciated. Not much on the net about staying the way you are – muscle/bodybuilding sites assume you want to look like arnie, and gym sites assume you just want to lose as much fat as possible, so advocate tonnes of cardio training.
Oh, and on High Intensity Interval Training? Yes, tried it. Hate it – so won’t do it!
Problem is this – While I wouldn’t mind losing a bit more fat, I don’t want to lose the muscle I have. Initially, when you train, you can lose fat and build muscle, as I have done (I’m not sure why this is possible for beginners – it just seems to be).
Basically, what do I do now?
Weights:
Do I carry on increasing my weights (I don’t really want to get much bigger than I am now on my upper body as that would become a little to disproportionate – I’m not that tall, so don’t particularly wish to look like a steroid abusing munchkin), or do I just now keep them at where they are as a “maintenance” regime? Can I use heavier weights but only do 2 sets instead of 3, minimising time in the gym? Do I keep my weights regime as it is, but go twice a week instead of four times a week?
Cardio:
Presume I carry on with this – was doing 45 minutes 5 times a week, presume I have to stay with this? Don’t want to lose muscle...
Food:
Hardest bit. I reckon that 75% of what I’ve achieved has been from eating better (or rather, just eating less). Evenings have been soup instead of pasta, I have had a protein shake for breakfast after training (used to be a Starbucks and a Marlboro light), have given up Starbucks/Nero etc during the day, have not been drinking in the week (except for a couple of Thursday nights, resulting in the carnage documented elsewhere on the forum) and have not been having 3 courses and a bottle of wine twice a week – these days a client lunch for me involves 2 starters, or a salad, and one glass of wine, or lime & soda. And I have simply been avoiding lunches – now that I am back out there seeing clients, and have a lot of lunches, not having a dirty great steak with trimmings and a vat of red wine is difficult when everyone else around you is filling their boots. Weekends will be as they always were – throughout the last 2 months I have continued to go out and get smashed at the weekend and eat whetever I want – but simply found that my appetite was smaller due to eating less during the week, so tended to eat less anyway. So I am assuming that to continue fat loss, I have to still be on a bit less than my daily calorific requirement – fine. But will that at some stage start eating away at the muscle I have managed to gain over the last 2 months?
Help, discussion etc appreciated. Not much on the net about staying the way you are – muscle/bodybuilding sites assume you want to look like arnie, and gym sites assume you just want to lose as much fat as possible, so advocate tonnes of cardio training.
Oh, and on High Intensity Interval Training? Yes, tried it. Hate it – so won’t do it!
Edited by Harry Flashman on Monday 9th March 10:00
Harry Flashman said:
Cara Van Man said:
Do it the easy way.
'Roids.
Then you'll be angry and people will fear you also. Win Win!
Mate, my doc said they don't mix well with the methadone.'Roids.
Then you'll be angry and people will fear you also. Win Win!
Harry,
If you don't increase the weights anymore, you won't get bigger. So stick to the lifting you are currently doing and you won't see an increase in muscle mass.
Cardio doesn't build muscle now you've been training for a while, so stick with that also.
The key to maintenance is making sure that you don't get bored now you don't have the ever increasing stack to look forward to. Try differing things.....I am biased, but Kickboxing would be perfect for maintaining your shape.
Are you ripped? do you want to be?
If you don't increase the weights anymore, you won't get bigger. So stick to the lifting you are currently doing and you won't see an increase in muscle mass.
Cardio doesn't build muscle now you've been training for a while, so stick with that also.
The key to maintenance is making sure that you don't get bored now you don't have the ever increasing stack to look forward to. Try differing things.....I am biased, but Kickboxing would be perfect for maintaining your shape.
Are you ripped? do you want to be?
SpydieNut said:
you do know that the average shag burns as much energy as a 1 mile run
so, how many miles will you do this week?
Not many - have a work related dinner Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, date on Thursday (so a chance, but taking a girl to the opera and it's a blind date, so can't count on action). Maybe a crack on Friday night...so, how many miles will you do this week?
Not looking good.
Not seeing the lawyer due to all of these other engagements, so can't count on that either. Trying to clear one of these dinners so that we can spend a night together, but she's busy too.
So I need to go to the gym. Lots. To counter lack of bonking and a surplus of fatboy dinners...
If you carry on with a good diet, keep the weights to a level you are happy with and run, or maybe go to circuit training then you will notice you will trim up more.
Im in the same position as you, im 5'7/8 I dont particulary want to get much wider on the shoulders after 3/4 months in the gym but I need to trim the 'love' handles a bit more and tighten the belly that up a bit. I dont want to look shorter than I am, I cant afford for that to happen!I initially lost half a stone in my first two months and im slowly putting back on good weight.
A great website is www.muscletalk.com if you search through there, you will see loads of posts about this.
Im in the same position as you, im 5'7/8 I dont particulary want to get much wider on the shoulders after 3/4 months in the gym but I need to trim the 'love' handles a bit more and tighten the belly that up a bit. I dont want to look shorter than I am, I cant afford for that to happen!I initially lost half a stone in my first two months and im slowly putting back on good weight.
A great website is www.muscletalk.com if you search through there, you will see loads of posts about this.
Cara Van Man said:
Do it the easy way.
'Roids.
Then you'll be angry and people will fear you also. Win Win!
Why do roid takers habitualy only train their upper bodies? The amount of big armed, small legged men I see about really makes me chuckle!'Roids.
Then you'll be angry and people will fear you also. Win Win!
"Too much gym work, not enough speed work"
Martial Arts Man said:
Harry,
If you don't increase the weights anymore, you won't get bigger. So stick to the lifting you are currently doing and you won't see an increase in muscle mass.
Cardio doesn't build muscle now you've been training for a while, so stick with that also.
The key to maintenance is making sure that you don't get bored now you don't have the ever increasing stack to look forward to. Try differing things.....I am biased, but Kickboxing would be perfect for maintaining your shape.
Are you ripped? do you want to be?
Thanks chap.If you don't increase the weights anymore, you won't get bigger. So stick to the lifting you are currently doing and you won't see an increase in muscle mass.
Cardio doesn't build muscle now you've been training for a while, so stick with that also.
The key to maintenance is making sure that you don't get bored now you don't have the ever increasing stack to look forward to. Try differing things.....I am biased, but Kickboxing would be perfect for maintaining your shape.
Are you ripped? do you want to be?
Going back to boxing actually - that minimises need for cardio I think as it's a pretty intense workout. Running is boring, boxing is not.
Ripped? Does that mean do I have muscle definition? If so yes, lots around my arms, shoulders and chest and legs, but not on my belly - it's now flat, but still has enough fat around it that I can't see a six-pack. Thing is, much as I would like a six-pack, I expect that the effort required in terms of diet and exercise to shift that final bit of podge is simple excessive...that's right, I assume?
Edited by Harry Flashman on Monday 9th March 10:09
I would try and eat more and often, 6 meals a day if you can and increase your breakfast a protein shake isn't sufficient you need slow release energy i.e oats or if your like me and hate oats, wheatabix!
Long periods of cardio will burn muscle so keep lifting weights and make small increases, if anything the increases will keep you interested. If you go to the gym and do the same thing everyday it will soon become a boring experience.
Long periods of cardio will burn muscle so keep lifting weights and make small increases, if anything the increases will keep you interested. If you go to the gym and do the same thing everyday it will soon become a boring experience.
BigTuna said:
I would try and eat more and often, 6 meals a day if you can and increase your breakfast a protein shake isn't sufficient you need slow release energy i.e oats or if your like me and hate oats, wheatabix!
Long periods of cardio will burn muscle so keep lifting weights and make small increases, if anything the increases will keep you interested. If you go to the gym and do the same thing everyday it will soon become a boring experience.
Thanks chap. Thing is six small meals a day simply is not practical for me. My job and lifestyle involve plenty of work related lunches and dinners. My challenge is to eat well at these - but switching the way I eat completely just isn't practical.Long periods of cardio will burn muscle so keep lifting weights and make small increases, if anything the increases will keep you interested. If you go to the gym and do the same thing everyday it will soon become a boring experience.
Hear you on the shake/slow release thing - will look into that
Edited by Harry Flashman on Monday 9th March 10:13
'Keep the body guessing' yes its an annoying phrase but it works. Variation is the key to maintenance. Have a heavy week on the iron just doing core work outs, ie Bench, squats, Dead lifts ( 3 day split) and another week have a lighter high rep sessions.
You're not going to look like a roid head just buy increasing your weight a little, that takes lots of work and commitment.
You're not going to look like a roid head just buy increasing your weight a little, that takes lots of work and commitment.
Harry Flashman said:
Martial Arts Man said:
Harry,
If you don't increase the weights anymore, you won't get bigger. So stick to the lifting you are currently doing and you won't see an increase in muscle mass.
Cardio doesn't build muscle now you've been training for a while, so stick with that also.
The key to maintenance is making sure that you don't get bored now you don't have the ever increasing stack to look forward to. Try differing things.....I am biased, but Kickboxing would be perfect for maintaining your shape.
Are you ripped? do you want to be?
Thanks chap.If you don't increase the weights anymore, you won't get bigger. So stick to the lifting you are currently doing and you won't see an increase in muscle mass.
Cardio doesn't build muscle now you've been training for a while, so stick with that also.
The key to maintenance is making sure that you don't get bored now you don't have the ever increasing stack to look forward to. Try differing things.....I am biased, but Kickboxing would be perfect for maintaining your shape.
Are you ripped? do you want to be?
Going back to boxing actually - that minimises need for cardio I think as it's a pretty intense workout. Running is boring, boxing is not.
Ripped? Does that mean do I have muscle definition? If so yes, lots around my arms, shoulders and chest and legs, but not on my belly - it's now flat, but still has enough fat around it that I can't see a six-pack. Thing is, much as I would like a six-pack, I expect that the effort required in terms of diet and exercise to shift that final bit of podge is simple excessive...that's right, I assume?
Edited by Harry Flashman on Monday 9th March 10:09
Ultimately, getting the six pack is about fat %. In simple terms, as long as you expend more energy than you eat, you'll be there in no time....if you want to, that is.
Boxing is the interval training you so despise, so as long as you enjoy it, the training will give you all the cardio you need, plus some great explosive muscle (often people lift really slowly in the gym, which is great if you want big muscles, but not so great if you want explosive power).
Ultimately, a boxers body is in my eyes the one every man should aspire to.
Oh, where abouts do you live? If you haven't found a boxing place yet, let me know. I am sure I can help.
Harry Flashman said:
Also, try as I might, I cannot seem to make my calves get bigger. And that is really odd, as I put on muscle really easily everywhere else, including my thighs. Recommended exercises?
Calves are a major issue with so many folk. My father was a competitive body builder for many years and always struggled with calves. I am the same......sure it is genetic!Try calf raises, or jumping/running up a hill. Boxing will develop them in no time......skipping is awesome for calves!
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