Starting back with some very easy lifting this afternoon (admittedly only with baby weights) after reconstructive shoulder surgery ... dreading it & a tad nervous if being honest ... but little acorns I guess after a long time out with injury.
Hell of a long road ahead, but I'll get there in the end hopefully - even at 44 years young.
Hope your own fitness journeys are a smoother one than mine has been lately.
As someone who has suffered with injuries I wish you well. Good luck and enjoy your training.
Recently joined a brand new gym that opened up near me that has a theater filled with cardio equipment and a big screen with surround sound. Normally I pop in after about 30 minutes of weights for a 10 minute HIIT session. But today they had Skyfall on so my usual 10 minute session turned into an hour and a half ).
You mix HIIT on weights day? I've always avoided anything more than a light jog on days where I'm lifting. I like to get my heart rate around 110 for the duration of the workout (I usually spend 90 minutes on weights). Good for fat burning but not so intense as to confuse recovery.
You mix HIIT on weights day? I've always avoided anything more than a light jog on days where I'm lifting. I like to get my heart rate around 110 for the duration of the workout (I usually spend 90 minutes on weights). Good for fat burning but not so intense as to confuse recovery.
Am I wrong in thinking this?
I hate slow, steady state cardio unless of course there's a Bond film I can watch ).
With the Bond Experience's #Bond25fitnesschallenge well underway I thought it would be a good time to check in with everyone here. I'm currently leaning down to get rid of a slight bit of body fat I've accumulated the last few years. Nothing noticeably substantial but I want to get back to how lean I was around Skyfall's release. What about you guys?
With the Bond Experience's #Bond25fitnesschallenge well underway I thought it would be a good time to check in with everyone here. I'm currently leaning down to get rid of a slight bit of body fat I've accumulated the last few years. Nothing noticeably substantial but I want to get back to how lean I was around Skyfall's release. What about you guys?
Currently doing HIT (High Intensity Training), not to be confused with HIIT. This means weight training once every 5-7 days for about 10-12 minutes taking each set to at least positive failure. In between sessions I'm just doing some light stretching/yoga and foam rolling.
As always trying to keep my diet nice and tight but I'm eating more fibre these days and still enjoying the odd treat.
One thing I just want to throw out there with the renewed interest in fitness, especially the #bond25 challenge...
I wouldn't be focusing on weight and instead BFI (body fat index).
It is entirely possible that if you start picking up the weights and up the protein intake that your weight might not go down all that much but your BFI will. And that's a good thing. You would have achieved a lot, but you wouldn't realize it.
I get the idea behind losing 25lbs by the release of Bond 25, but I worry that someone might be making incredible progress with their BFI but their weight might only show a 5-10lb decrease because of the increased muscle and they will wrongfully become discouraged...
If that's something that makes sense to you, here is a good rule of thumb:
31%> - How are you not dead.
25-30% - Obese. Red alert lose weight!
20-24% - Average. Meh.
15-19% - Fit. A nice range to be.
10-14% - Hello Daniel Craig!
9%< - Eat a cheeseburger and live a little!
The latest bond experience video has encouraged me to get back into proper fitness. While i've been watching what i've been eating and i've been working out at the gym for a while, i've been doing both half-heartedly. Now, i'll be getting back on track and back into Bond shape. I'm also generally inspired by David Z himself in that I want to look and feel better than I ever have.
So here's to being in even better shape than Craig when Bond 25 comes out!
Gentlemen if I could trouble you all with a question I would like some advise.
I'm looking to get the "dad bod" worked on. I'm 41, 5ft 10 at a steady 180-185lbs and a 33 waist - as medium as medium gets. Lately over the past year I've noticed any weight gain now goes in the gut and the hips/thighs versus on the waistline. I work in healthcare so 8-12 hour shifts and 9-14 miles a day on my feet is constant. Also add family with three kids in to the mix and there is always something going on. Diet obviously comes in to play but are there any suggestions to toning up the midsection. I really dont want to lose weight so much ( especially like most of us I will making additions to my wardrobe in the coming months -{ ) and a gym membership is always an option but not sure if that's really needed if there some at home techniques especially when I get so much walking distance at work.
Any insight I could get would be greatly appreciated.
Good question. Luckily it sounds as though you’re in pretty good shape to start with, so it’s more a question of toning up, which is easier and simpler.
The muscles in the stomach area are the first to sag in men of a certain age (myself included and I’m thirteen years older than you). Fortunately there’s a lot you can do.
Stomach exercises will definitely help. There’s lots of guidance online - just a few exercises three times a week will have a significant impact.
Diet is also important- they say that good bodies are made in the kitchen, not the gym. Beer is the main culprit, alongside sugary drinks and other alcohol, so try to reduce them for a few weeks to see a difference.
Joining a gym is always a great idea for all sorts of reasons - it’s best to treat the whole body, and personal trainers can help - plus you get a new circle of friends.
Take a look at Joe Wicks’ “lean in fifteen” on both Instagram and the web, for some great help on both diet and exercise too.
You unfortunately can't target a specific section to lose weight in. Men want to lose around the gut, women tend to want to lose under the arms. The only way you can take weight off is everywhere.
I would invest in a scale that measures body fat. I use a Withings and get on it once a week. Knowing how much fat you have on your body is the only way to give you the info you need to see what you need to do. Forget about your weight. Body fat is the number you need.
It's entirely possible that if it's the stomach region, that it isn't fat at all but bloating. If I eat any kind of carbonated drink (even water) I look like Santa Claus. High sodium can do it too. As Charmed and Dangerous said, bodies are made in the kitchen not the gym.
Great input, thank you. FWIW I did cut out sodas as much as possible about six months ago and regulated to mostly coffee, water and tea. Not a big drinker since the kids came along (but you can twist my arm for a sip of good whisky) Plus I'm a type 1 diabetic so even the diet drinks with all their additives aren't the best either. Was quite easy to switch to the flavored sparkling water and seltzer.
I would advise you to get a pull up bar (one of those that fit in 99% of all doors except the ones in my house) and a jump rope. You can get quite a workout in with just that. Add in some planks, push ups and squats and you should have everything you need to get you started. Start with 10 minutes jump rope (30 seconds jumping, 10 seconds resting) and 20 minutes of the strength exercises. Like C&D also said, there is no such thing as spot fat removal.
If anyone can find it still, there was a video (yep I know) called the S Plan
It was all based on strength stamina speed and suppleness. Ice used it for years as really adds serious speed to your running.
But in there is a section on abs, 20 on 20 off. All using own body weight and resistance. Its great and flexible
Don't do planks, there's much better ab exercises that will get you more bang for your buck as far as core strength goes. I'd check out AthleanX on YouTube. He's a physical therapist who also trains athletes, and he has some very informative exercise and nutrition videos to help people get in better shape.
Don't do planks, there's much better ab exercises that will get you more bang for your buck as far as core strength goes. I'd check out AthleanX on YouTube. He's a physical therapist who also trains athletes, and he has some very informative exercise and nutrition videos to help people get in better shape.
Superb suggestion. AthleanX is without a doubt the best on YT as to the fitness, excercises and recovery.
I've done some reading here and this is an area I know (perhaps) too much about. I'll drop some bullets after seeing some of this.
Short background: I was very sick 12 years ago and fell to 128lbs at 5'11" and was able to get up to a healthy 187lbs in a year at a lean 12% bf. It involved a trainer and dietitian. I carried on the lifestyle, learning more, until business life became busy and I let things slip a couple years back. So, I'm in the middle of doing it again. I've also worked with an olympic trainer and learned enough until I could get certified for fun. I've helped my dad get off blood pressure medicine, I help my friends with tid bits, and keep up the learning. After all is said and done, it's about health.
Supplements:
- The industry is not FDA regulated. Many items hit the shelf with potentially dangerous or noneffective ingredients. Look things up & don't read packaging. Buyer beware.
- Some supplements have benefits after you're at a certain level and before will do little-to-nothing. Don't go crazy.
- Supplements are not meal replacements. They lack micronutrient profiles/diversity your cells need to build properly. This is why there is no 'one meal to replace all meals', like a human cat food. There are even different kinds of proteins. They are add-ons.
- Bioavailability is a factor in protein powders you don't need to worry about. Yes, some are better and will digest better. High-performance athletes will see a difference.
- Creatine is a fine supplement in moderation. You must drink more water since you will retain more. Think of water as a lubricant for moving nutrients around.
- The word 'natural' literally means nothing. It has no scientific basis. Simply sounds intuitive.
- The word 'organic' is abused. Organic does not mean healthy. It's about pesticide use and such. This merit is a debate for elsewhere.
- Full vitamins are potentially dangerous. See a doctor if you think you have any deficiencies and may need specific pills for say vitamin D or B...
- Good supplements to consider: protein powders, creatine, beta alanine when advanced, BCAAs, Omegas, Glutamine.
- Bad supplements: pre-workouts, fat burners, vitamins unless advised, caffeine in abuse, anything with claims.
- Mindful supplements: It's unclear which probiotic profiles help people and how those profiles need to be tailored to each person. If you have probiotics and feel they help, go with it. If you find they do nothing, you may also be correct. You have a gut micro ecosystem and eating healthy promotes good bacteria while bad food promotes bad bacteria, but everyone has their own unique profile. These bacteria influence a lot and worth a 'google'.
- Protein powders have digestion rates. Blends introduce this. Whey enters the blood stream fast, so good post workout, whereas casein can take up to 8hrs to digest. Casein is a good night snack and feed muscles while sleeping.
Diet:
- Believe it or not, healthy dieting isn't a mystery. This is how we have olympians.
- There are no superfoods. This isn't a real thing. Go for diversity. Remember, there is no human cat food. I know soylent tried.
- Vegetarians. Recognize you may not be getting complete proteins. Google partial proteins and pairings.
- Diet for nutrition, not calories. While calories are important, everyone burns them differently and foods aren't measured properly on their package anyways. Not even close. Low-calorie style diets should always be supervised - not by a club, by a nutritionist. This is because they often trigger fat storage, muscle burning, (skinny fat) and can threaten malnutrition. So, think of diets as different nutrient profiles and don't count calories. Trust me, it's easy to eat 3k calories of chips. You'll throw up trying to eat 3k calories of chicken breast or broccoli.
- You should somewhat count protein. Most people are deficient. You can have too much, but it's a challenging achievement. Many times when people aren't recovering well, it's a good thing to test.
- Low fat diets are the leading cause of low testosterone disorders in men. It's estimated this is a wide problem and most people aren't aware they have LTD. Testosterone has a lot of important roles and so does eating fat.
- You should not have carbs and high fats at the same time. Try making meals protein, veggie, carb or protein, veggie, fat. Center meals around protein and veggie. Even breakfast.
- Keto dieting should be done under supervision. It has become a type of 'broscience' today. Don't play games with this unless you're going from 10-6% BF and know what you're doing. Also, good term. Beware of broscience and morning shows.
- Trans fat is bad. CLA, a type of trans fat, is debated. If the food has it, drop it.
- Caffeine is actually very heathy, but in moderation of a couple cups and not towards night. Most of your recovery occurs when asleep.
- Sugar is healthy directly after intense activity. It speeds up the rate of recovery and fat loss. It's mostly unhealthy when not had next to intense exercise.
- White breads and processed grains are basically sugar. Have it in the right context. Most brown breads are actually white bread with dye.
- Intermittent fasting has a place. But some food is better than no food, or else you burn muscle. So if in a situation where it's no food for 7hrs or chips, have chips. Think of it this way: you have to convince your body to build and keep muscle and not use it as an energy source. You do this by warming up, exercising, and eating regularly.
- Look at your body as a factory and you are the output. Your body cells for everything die daily and need replacing. Your body can replace cells with fewer tools, but it will do a worse job and aging wont go as well.
- Sometimes high performance people will eat anything for the pure sake of getting calories in. This is a special situation. Don't worry with it unless you are up there, even then fried food isn't the best approach.
- Hydrated oils are a problem. They turn into trans fat. So read your peanut butter label.
- Oils that are solid at room temperature are bad. Yes, that means the hard coconut oil. If it looks like a fad, sounds like a fad, is discussed on a morning show, it's likely a bad idea.
- Emotional eating. It happens. Don't get mad or give up. Remember, what matters is what you do 85% of the time. Not 15%. If there are issues, seek therapy, friends, and family and look at other hobbies/distractions as new outlets.
Training:
- Don't look at diet or training being more important. See training as giving the opportunity to let the diet work the best it can. This isn't apples to apples.
- Use plans. They can be beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Use the right one. A beginner wont get as much benefit from an advanced plan.
- Figure out your goal. Don't worry, even if female, if you don't want to look like a body builder. Looking like one is difficult and takes a lot of time. It doesn't happen by mistake, it's even challenging when on purpose. You don't wake up in the morning and go 'dammit, I didn't realize'.
- Form and range of motion is far more important than set or rep count.
- As some said here, you cannot target fat removal. Your body will take energy from fat anywhere, or muscle (yes, muscle is a type of fuel source), what's in your stomach at that moment, and elsewhere. Also, fat shrinks. You don't have less fat, per se.
- A warm up has many benefits. One to know is it gives your body time to switch which energy source it's using, like not burning muscle. HIIT is good for playing with this.
- Running doesn't have to be your warm up. If doing a chest day, you can choose a weight you can lift for a few mins (not counting reps) and warm up the chest. Call it chest cardio.
- Stretching improves/maintains range of motion, flow, and fibers. Do it between sets and after exercise.
- When a plan has a rep range, you must 'fail' within the rep range. 8-12 reps means you cannot do 13 if you wanted to. You develop an intuition for this. If you hit 16, call it a warm up.
- Low reps (less than ~6) target strength. You work on motor neurons.
- Mid reps (~8-16) break fibers (works on size). This is a type of damage and you reap benefits when recovering. If you don't give time for recovery or don't eat well, you may get worse. This is a reason for split days- you train legs while chest is recovering. Stretching will maintain/improve range of motion as breaking fibers reduces it. You train size and then later train strength and endurance. But not constantly size.
- High reps are endurance. Ideally you don't want to simply lift a weight only 8 times. Advanced people may look at training plans where their reps are time based. You may also do this as warm up.
- There are unhealthy ways of building muscle. Looking athletic and being healthy are two different things.
- Some exercises have better versions, but it often doesn't matter. Find what works for you. Some people respond better to bars, some don't. The real answer is what gets you consistent.
- Machines isolate muscles and you don't need to balance anything. This is good when working to absolute failure or learning movements. So I might do 4 sets of benchpress and then do a final on a machine. Think of doing sets as working towards that final rep where lots of benefit comes from.
- Not all machines are safe or even good to use. If it involves twisting the spine, don't do it.
- HIIT and strength training can be done on the same day, but put them on opposite ends of the day in an ideal world. A short HIIT session (like tabata) can be very good directly after.
- Endurance cardio (not HIIT) is often a bad idea before or after resistance training.
- Tempo is about breaking a movement into pieces. Lifting the weight, holding the weight, lowering the weight. If I say 0, 1, 3 it means lift the weight fast, hold it for one second, lower for three seconds. This is a good default tempo.
- Unless being trained, don't lock your joints. Joints do not form straight lines. So, when training legs, don't lock knees. Bodybuilding.com has a lot of great videos on form. Some gym goers will tell you otherwise. Some may be correct, but unless you're nailing form or being trained, better safe than sorry. I've had friends snap the ACL, damage cartridge in the spine... It isn't worth it.
- Don't always look in the mirror for form. Try and feel the muscles you're engaging. You can engage the wrong muscles. You'll learn to feel the exercise. The mirror can be good if you want to see if the back is giving. Form is king.
- In complex exercises with more than one muscle group, you are as strong as the weakest link. So if you deadlift and the back is giving, I don't care how easy it feels. Drop the weight or go work on lower back. Don't get a belt. If you can't do the form, you can't do the exercise. Again, belts have a place, but for very advanced people.
- Don't work through sharp pain. If the pain is sharp, you may be doing too much damage or hitting skeletal muscle or tendons. As much as you should push yourself, remember if you're the kind of person who can, throwing up/nausia and sharp pain are your flags to stop.
- 'Iron doesn't lie'. When you have a bad workout, think about your diet, your sleep, being over stressed, hydration, having too much caffeine. You will teach your body the right things over time and it will develop new intuitions, like craving spinach or going for a run.
Technology:
- Scales do not measure BF correctly. Sorry if you use em. If a scale has handle bars for more sensors, it can be ~accurate. The mirror, your clothing fit, and how you literally emotionally feel are solid indicators.
On the workout not working:
- It takes time for the body to adjust new systems. Sometimes it's slow because your body is building a neural connection with the muscle. When your exercising, there is a lot more change occurring than simply muscle growth or fat loss. There are changes to neural plasticity, hormones, the heart, oxygen held in blood, and so on. Trust, even when you're not seeing results, changes are happpening. Consistency is king.
got myself into resonably good shape just before our cruise to the bahamas , bloody hard work at 56 years old i can tell you, this photo was taken day 2 as we left New Orleans . by day 16 all can say is" back to the gym we go"
Comments
As someone who has suffered with injuries I wish you well. Good luck and enjoy your training.
Am I wrong in thinking this?
My diet is good - not even missing chocolate / chips / junk food.
Not had time to go to the gym recently as been crazy at work however I have not fallen off the wagon and my diet has remained good!!!
Have flu at the moment but intend to get back into my 4 times a week weight routine soon. Huge family holiday in Aug so set myself a realistic target.
As always trying to keep my diet nice and tight but I'm eating more fibre these days and still enjoying the odd treat.
I wouldn't be focusing on weight and instead BFI (body fat index).
It is entirely possible that if you start picking up the weights and up the protein intake that your weight might not go down all that much but your BFI will. And that's a good thing. You would have achieved a lot, but you wouldn't realize it.
I get the idea behind losing 25lbs by the release of Bond 25, but I worry that someone might be making incredible progress with their BFI but their weight might only show a 5-10lb decrease because of the increased muscle and they will wrongfully become discouraged...
If that's something that makes sense to you, here is a good rule of thumb:
31%> - How are you not dead.
25-30% - Obese. Red alert lose weight!
20-24% - Average. Meh.
15-19% - Fit. A nice range to be.
10-14% - Hello Daniel Craig!
9%< - Eat a cheeseburger and live a little!
So here's to being in even better shape than Craig when Bond 25 comes out!
https://www.seanlerwill.com/shop/bemorebond/
Does any of our members have any experience with this book/ program?
I'm looking to get the "dad bod" worked on. I'm 41, 5ft 10 at a steady 180-185lbs and a 33 waist - as medium as medium gets. Lately over the past year I've noticed any weight gain now goes in the gut and the hips/thighs versus on the waistline. I work in healthcare so 8-12 hour shifts and 9-14 miles a day on my feet is constant. Also add family with three kids in to the mix and there is always something going on. Diet obviously comes in to play but are there any suggestions to toning up the midsection. I really dont want to lose weight so much ( especially like most of us I will making additions to my wardrobe in the coming months -{ ) and a gym membership is always an option but not sure if that's really needed if there some at home techniques especially when I get so much walking distance at work.
Any insight I could get would be greatly appreciated.
Good question. Luckily it sounds as though you’re in pretty good shape to start with, so it’s more a question of toning up, which is easier and simpler.
The muscles in the stomach area are the first to sag in men of a certain age (myself included and I’m thirteen years older than you). Fortunately there’s a lot you can do.
Stomach exercises will definitely help. There’s lots of guidance online - just a few exercises three times a week will have a significant impact.
Diet is also important- they say that good bodies are made in the kitchen, not the gym. Beer is the main culprit, alongside sugary drinks and other alcohol, so try to reduce them for a few weeks to see a difference.
Joining a gym is always a great idea for all sorts of reasons - it’s best to treat the whole body, and personal trainers can help - plus you get a new circle of friends.
Take a look at Joe Wicks’ “lean in fifteen” on both Instagram and the web, for some great help on both diet and exercise too.
Good luck and keep us posted.
A couple of thoughts:
You unfortunately can't target a specific section to lose weight in. Men want to lose around the gut, women tend to want to lose under the arms. The only way you can take weight off is everywhere.
I would invest in a scale that measures body fat. I use a Withings and get on it once a week. Knowing how much fat you have on your body is the only way to give you the info you need to see what you need to do. Forget about your weight. Body fat is the number you need.
It's entirely possible that if it's the stomach region, that it isn't fat at all but bloating. If I eat any kind of carbonated drink (even water) I look like Santa Claus. High sodium can do it too. As Charmed and Dangerous said, bodies are made in the kitchen not the gym.
I feel you.
It was all based on strength stamina speed and suppleness. Ice used it for years as really adds serious speed to your running.
But in there is a section on abs, 20 on 20 off. All using own body weight and resistance. Its great and flexible
1. CR. 2. TSWLM. 3. LTK. 4. GF. 5. SF.
Superb suggestion. AthleanX is without a doubt the best on YT as to the fitness, excercises and recovery.
Short background: I was very sick 12 years ago and fell to 128lbs at 5'11" and was able to get up to a healthy 187lbs in a year at a lean 12% bf. It involved a trainer and dietitian. I carried on the lifestyle, learning more, until business life became busy and I let things slip a couple years back. So, I'm in the middle of doing it again. I've also worked with an olympic trainer and learned enough until I could get certified for fun. I've helped my dad get off blood pressure medicine, I help my friends with tid bits, and keep up the learning. After all is said and done, it's about health.
I'd like to drop some pointers, but first, here are a couple of good links for new ones:
Good beginner routine. It focuses on developing splits and form: https://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-routines/complete-mf-beginners-training-guide-plan
Good intermediate to advanced routine: http://campusgains.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BigManonCampusCheatSheetv1.0.pdf
Bullet points:
Supplements:
- The industry is not FDA regulated. Many items hit the shelf with potentially dangerous or noneffective ingredients. Look things up & don't read packaging. Buyer beware.
- Some supplements have benefits after you're at a certain level and before will do little-to-nothing. Don't go crazy.
- Supplements are not meal replacements. They lack micronutrient profiles/diversity your cells need to build properly. This is why there is no 'one meal to replace all meals', like a human cat food. There are even different kinds of proteins. They are add-ons.
- Bioavailability is a factor in protein powders you don't need to worry about. Yes, some are better and will digest better. High-performance athletes will see a difference.
- Creatine is a fine supplement in moderation. You must drink more water since you will retain more. Think of water as a lubricant for moving nutrients around.
- The word 'natural' literally means nothing. It has no scientific basis. Simply sounds intuitive.
- The word 'organic' is abused. Organic does not mean healthy. It's about pesticide use and such. This merit is a debate for elsewhere.
- Full vitamins are potentially dangerous. See a doctor if you think you have any deficiencies and may need specific pills for say vitamin D or B...
- Good supplements to consider: protein powders, creatine, beta alanine when advanced, BCAAs, Omegas, Glutamine.
- Bad supplements: pre-workouts, fat burners, vitamins unless advised, caffeine in abuse, anything with claims.
- Mindful supplements: It's unclear which probiotic profiles help people and how those profiles need to be tailored to each person. If you have probiotics and feel they help, go with it. If you find they do nothing, you may also be correct. You have a gut micro ecosystem and eating healthy promotes good bacteria while bad food promotes bad bacteria, but everyone has their own unique profile. These bacteria influence a lot and worth a 'google'.
- Protein powders have digestion rates. Blends introduce this. Whey enters the blood stream fast, so good post workout, whereas casein can take up to 8hrs to digest. Casein is a good night snack and feed muscles while sleeping.
Diet:
- Believe it or not, healthy dieting isn't a mystery. This is how we have olympians.
- There are no superfoods. This isn't a real thing. Go for diversity. Remember, there is no human cat food. I know soylent tried.
- Vegetarians. Recognize you may not be getting complete proteins. Google partial proteins and pairings.
- Diet for nutrition, not calories. While calories are important, everyone burns them differently and foods aren't measured properly on their package anyways. Not even close. Low-calorie style diets should always be supervised - not by a club, by a nutritionist. This is because they often trigger fat storage, muscle burning, (skinny fat) and can threaten malnutrition. So, think of diets as different nutrient profiles and don't count calories. Trust me, it's easy to eat 3k calories of chips. You'll throw up trying to eat 3k calories of chicken breast or broccoli.
- You should somewhat count protein. Most people are deficient. You can have too much, but it's a challenging achievement. Many times when people aren't recovering well, it's a good thing to test.
- Low fat diets are the leading cause of low testosterone disorders in men. It's estimated this is a wide problem and most people aren't aware they have LTD. Testosterone has a lot of important roles and so does eating fat.
- You should not have carbs and high fats at the same time. Try making meals protein, veggie, carb or protein, veggie, fat. Center meals around protein and veggie. Even breakfast.
- Keto dieting should be done under supervision. It has become a type of 'broscience' today. Don't play games with this unless you're going from 10-6% BF and know what you're doing. Also, good term. Beware of broscience and morning shows.
- Trans fat is bad. CLA, a type of trans fat, is debated. If the food has it, drop it.
- Caffeine is actually very heathy, but in moderation of a couple cups and not towards night. Most of your recovery occurs when asleep.
- Sugar is healthy directly after intense activity. It speeds up the rate of recovery and fat loss. It's mostly unhealthy when not had next to intense exercise.
- White breads and processed grains are basically sugar. Have it in the right context. Most brown breads are actually white bread with dye.
- Intermittent fasting has a place. But some food is better than no food, or else you burn muscle. So if in a situation where it's no food for 7hrs or chips, have chips. Think of it this way: you have to convince your body to build and keep muscle and not use it as an energy source. You do this by warming up, exercising, and eating regularly.
- Look at your body as a factory and you are the output. Your body cells for everything die daily and need replacing. Your body can replace cells with fewer tools, but it will do a worse job and aging wont go as well.
- Sometimes high performance people will eat anything for the pure sake of getting calories in. This is a special situation. Don't worry with it unless you are up there, even then fried food isn't the best approach.
- Hydrated oils are a problem. They turn into trans fat. So read your peanut butter label.
- Oils that are solid at room temperature are bad. Yes, that means the hard coconut oil. If it looks like a fad, sounds like a fad, is discussed on a morning show, it's likely a bad idea.
- Emotional eating. It happens. Don't get mad or give up. Remember, what matters is what you do 85% of the time. Not 15%. If there are issues, seek therapy, friends, and family and look at other hobbies/distractions as new outlets.
Training:
- Don't look at diet or training being more important. See training as giving the opportunity to let the diet work the best it can. This isn't apples to apples.
- Use plans. They can be beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Use the right one. A beginner wont get as much benefit from an advanced plan.
- Figure out your goal. Don't worry, even if female, if you don't want to look like a body builder. Looking like one is difficult and takes a lot of time. It doesn't happen by mistake, it's even challenging when on purpose. You don't wake up in the morning and go 'dammit, I didn't realize'.
- Form and range of motion is far more important than set or rep count.
- As some said here, you cannot target fat removal. Your body will take energy from fat anywhere, or muscle (yes, muscle is a type of fuel source), what's in your stomach at that moment, and elsewhere. Also, fat shrinks. You don't have less fat, per se.
- A warm up has many benefits. One to know is it gives your body time to switch which energy source it's using, like not burning muscle. HIIT is good for playing with this.
- Running doesn't have to be your warm up. If doing a chest day, you can choose a weight you can lift for a few mins (not counting reps) and warm up the chest. Call it chest cardio.
- Stretching improves/maintains range of motion, flow, and fibers. Do it between sets and after exercise.
- When a plan has a rep range, you must 'fail' within the rep range. 8-12 reps means you cannot do 13 if you wanted to. You develop an intuition for this. If you hit 16, call it a warm up.
- Low reps (less than ~6) target strength. You work on motor neurons.
- Mid reps (~8-16) break fibers (works on size). This is a type of damage and you reap benefits when recovering. If you don't give time for recovery or don't eat well, you may get worse. This is a reason for split days- you train legs while chest is recovering. Stretching will maintain/improve range of motion as breaking fibers reduces it. You train size and then later train strength and endurance. But not constantly size.
- High reps are endurance. Ideally you don't want to simply lift a weight only 8 times. Advanced people may look at training plans where their reps are time based. You may also do this as warm up.
- There are unhealthy ways of building muscle. Looking athletic and being healthy are two different things.
- Some exercises have better versions, but it often doesn't matter. Find what works for you. Some people respond better to bars, some don't. The real answer is what gets you consistent.
- Machines isolate muscles and you don't need to balance anything. This is good when working to absolute failure or learning movements. So I might do 4 sets of benchpress and then do a final on a machine. Think of doing sets as working towards that final rep where lots of benefit comes from.
- Not all machines are safe or even good to use. If it involves twisting the spine, don't do it.
- HIIT and strength training can be done on the same day, but put them on opposite ends of the day in an ideal world. A short HIIT session (like tabata) can be very good directly after.
- Endurance cardio (not HIIT) is often a bad idea before or after resistance training.
- Tempo is about breaking a movement into pieces. Lifting the weight, holding the weight, lowering the weight. If I say 0, 1, 3 it means lift the weight fast, hold it for one second, lower for three seconds. This is a good default tempo.
- Unless being trained, don't lock your joints. Joints do not form straight lines. So, when training legs, don't lock knees. Bodybuilding.com has a lot of great videos on form. Some gym goers will tell you otherwise. Some may be correct, but unless you're nailing form or being trained, better safe than sorry. I've had friends snap the ACL, damage cartridge in the spine... It isn't worth it.
- Don't always look in the mirror for form. Try and feel the muscles you're engaging. You can engage the wrong muscles. You'll learn to feel the exercise. The mirror can be good if you want to see if the back is giving. Form is king.
- In complex exercises with more than one muscle group, you are as strong as the weakest link. So if you deadlift and the back is giving, I don't care how easy it feels. Drop the weight or go work on lower back. Don't get a belt. If you can't do the form, you can't do the exercise. Again, belts have a place, but for very advanced people.
- Don't work through sharp pain. If the pain is sharp, you may be doing too much damage or hitting skeletal muscle or tendons. As much as you should push yourself, remember if you're the kind of person who can, throwing up/nausia and sharp pain are your flags to stop.
- 'Iron doesn't lie'. When you have a bad workout, think about your diet, your sleep, being over stressed, hydration, having too much caffeine. You will teach your body the right things over time and it will develop new intuitions, like craving spinach or going for a run.
Technology:
- Scales do not measure BF correctly. Sorry if you use em. If a scale has handle bars for more sensors, it can be ~accurate. The mirror, your clothing fit, and how you literally emotionally feel are solid indicators.
On the workout not working:
- It takes time for the body to adjust new systems. Sometimes it's slow because your body is building a neural connection with the muscle. When your exercising, there is a lot more change occurring than simply muscle growth or fat loss. There are changes to neural plasticity, hormones, the heart, oxygen held in blood, and so on. Trust, even when you're not seeing results, changes are happpening. Consistency is king.
shaun