Jax PM'd me because he didn't want to hijack thread- no worries, I'll get back to DEW's questions and the original purpose of this thread today. Jax said in his PM:
My goal is strength to weight ratio which means lean and mean not big and bulky. I figured that if I ate healthy combined with weightlifting and cardio my true body would naturally show itself again. However, the routine of eating healthy and working out has not yielded any changes in my bodies appearance. Sure I can hike harder and farther but I figured I would atleast look better physically after putting forth so much effort for both the physical demands and dietary changes I've made.
In regards to your post
-is this considered a cutting routine?
-why cut all cardio? will I be too weak to do it? 2 days of running seems like nothing
-should I stop protein drinks post workout?
-when should my last meal be? at dinner, after dinner? before a specific time?
are BMI calculators inaccurate? If so I will pick up a caliper instead to measure
I lived in Thailand for 3 years, ate a very limited diet and stayed around comfortably at 160lbs.
I now weigh 215lbs and I have packed on more muscle but obviosuly did it very wrong and unhealthy
I want to clean the slate so to speak and build my body new but correctly this time
Thanks for your help, I appreciate your time very much
-Jax
Your questions were partly answered in my first post to you. You are trying to do all things at once: great cardio, more muscle, and low body fat. That is your mistake and the mistake of many. You can't do all at once (study periodization and specificity). Since you seem most obsessed with your appearance not changing and not what is going on on the inside, I gave you the program for changing appearance first. I even told you it isn't the healthy way. The great cardio and muscle gain will have to wait 12 weeks. Just how it is.
It's like you want to be the star athlete and not do what the star athletes do. That is why you can't compare yourself to your bodybuilding friends- you aren't them and likely aren't doing what they do. I have several pro-bodybuilders (drug free), and other top athletes on my staff/cleint list, and trust me, they spent years of incredible discipline to get where they are, not just since January.
Your questions:
1) yes, this will drop body fat (that's what you've been complaining about)
2) I'm cutting most of your cardio for two reasons: 1- you won't have enough carbs/energy/calories to sustain and 2- you can't expect muscle trained for endurance to also be bigger (hypertrohy) at the same time. You're asking for the impossible.
3) Don't stop the protein drinks- you're going to need them to hit 215 grams protein per day unless you're a caveman.
4) When last meal? That reminded me I forgot something in the first thread concerning meal frequency:
You need to divide the numbers I gave you over 5 or 6 meals per day. When you do that, last meal timing only needs to be at least an hour before bed. Also, you can include one meal per week that doesn't follow the guidelines, as long as it doesn't contain more than 1,000 calories from any source (I'll tell you up front, most people can't stop at 1,000- so beware as it will cancel several days of progress.)
5) BMI calculators innaccurate? Not really, but they are just a guideline and become less applicable to fit people who maintain more muscle than the sedentary crowd.(I'm consdired overweight on BMI, but healthy male on body fat%) You need body fat% tested if you want to play with the big dogs. Once you have that, I can at least tell if you're cheating your diet and give you feedback based on your numbers.
Finally, you made my whole point in your comment about living in Thialand 3 years at 55 pounds lighter than now. Trust me, that culture promotes thinness with food and activity levels and low stimulis to eat. You lived on fewer calories and burned more than is possible in everyday American life. That is why I promote lifestyle change vs dieting like I gave you above. In case you didn't catch on, this is a diet unsustainable to most people, but give her hell, she does work!
I'm about out of time on this and want to help DEW. Best of luck Jax. If you could find a trainer that knew all this stuff that could train you 2-4 times per week, you'd have a better chance for success, as most lone rangers can't follow everything to the "t" as I laid out, but some can.
My goal is strength to weight ratio which means lean and mean not big and bulky. I figured that if I ate healthy combined with weightlifting and cardio my true body would naturally show itself again. However, the routine of eating healthy and working out has not yielded any changes in my bodies appearance. Sure I can hike harder and farther but I figured I would atleast look better physically after putting forth so much effort for both the physical demands and dietary changes I've made.
In regards to your post
-is this considered a cutting routine?
-why cut all cardio? will I be too weak to do it? 2 days of running seems like nothing
-should I stop protein drinks post workout?
-when should my last meal be? at dinner, after dinner? before a specific time?
are BMI calculators inaccurate? If so I will pick up a caliper instead to measure
I lived in Thailand for 3 years, ate a very limited diet and stayed around comfortably at 160lbs.
I now weigh 215lbs and I have packed on more muscle but obviosuly did it very wrong and unhealthy
I want to clean the slate so to speak and build my body new but correctly this time
Thanks for your help, I appreciate your time very much
-Jax
Your questions were partly answered in my first post to you. You are trying to do all things at once: great cardio, more muscle, and low body fat. That is your mistake and the mistake of many. You can't do all at once (study periodization and specificity). Since you seem most obsessed with your appearance not changing and not what is going on on the inside, I gave you the program for changing appearance first. I even told you it isn't the healthy way. The great cardio and muscle gain will have to wait 12 weeks. Just how it is.
It's like you want to be the star athlete and not do what the star athletes do. That is why you can't compare yourself to your bodybuilding friends- you aren't them and likely aren't doing what they do. I have several pro-bodybuilders (drug free), and other top athletes on my staff/cleint list, and trust me, they spent years of incredible discipline to get where they are, not just since January.
Your questions:
1) yes, this will drop body fat (that's what you've been complaining about)
2) I'm cutting most of your cardio for two reasons: 1- you won't have enough carbs/energy/calories to sustain and 2- you can't expect muscle trained for endurance to also be bigger (hypertrohy) at the same time. You're asking for the impossible.
3) Don't stop the protein drinks- you're going to need them to hit 215 grams protein per day unless you're a caveman.
4) When last meal? That reminded me I forgot something in the first thread concerning meal frequency:
You need to divide the numbers I gave you over 5 or 6 meals per day. When you do that, last meal timing only needs to be at least an hour before bed. Also, you can include one meal per week that doesn't follow the guidelines, as long as it doesn't contain more than 1,000 calories from any source (I'll tell you up front, most people can't stop at 1,000- so beware as it will cancel several days of progress.)
5) BMI calculators innaccurate? Not really, but they are just a guideline and become less applicable to fit people who maintain more muscle than the sedentary crowd.(I'm consdired overweight on BMI, but healthy male on body fat%) You need body fat% tested if you want to play with the big dogs. Once you have that, I can at least tell if you're cheating your diet and give you feedback based on your numbers.
Finally, you made my whole point in your comment about living in Thialand 3 years at 55 pounds lighter than now. Trust me, that culture promotes thinness with food and activity levels and low stimulis to eat. You lived on fewer calories and burned more than is possible in everyday American life. That is why I promote lifestyle change vs dieting like I gave you above. In case you didn't catch on, this is a diet unsustainable to most people, but give her hell, she does work!
I'm about out of time on this and want to help DEW. Best of luck Jax. If you could find a trainer that knew all this stuff that could train you 2-4 times per week, you'd have a better chance for success, as most lone rangers can't follow everything to the "t" as I laid out, but some can.
