Body recomposition questions

goldfishilies

Hey everyone. I need some help figuring all of this out. I've worked myself into a state of pure confusion. I am a male dancer, doing 20 - 30 hours a week of ballet training. My teacher recently told me that I need to get abs. I understand that no amount of abdominal training will get me visible abs with a layer of fat covering them up and my body has a natural tendency to hold onto extra stomach fat. I am also in need of building some upper body strength and some -albeit minimal- muscle mass. As much strength with as little extra mass as possible would be ideal, though I understand that some will come with strength. I haven't really been given any instruction on how to achieve any of these goals though and am feeling a bit flustered. I am unsure if these would require adding in some cardio (and how much), or if it is a matter of tweaking my diet. With the intention of fat loss in mind, I'm nervous about lowering my calorie intake too far and causing myself to be low in energy or get injuries.


Any advice on safe fat loss and strength gain on an already heavily active schedule would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Unknown

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ana3067

Abs = muscle, so if there isnt' muscle there you need to build it up by eating at a caloric surplus (so eating more than you need to maintain) and then lifting weights. 2 full-body days would be enough considering your schedule and newbie-ness -- squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press, something for upper back and then you can throw in some ab work if you want (possibly on rest days if it saves time - e.g. FB on Monday, then a bit of abs Tuesday, rest, then FB again on Thursday, abs friday, rest again the rest of the week).

eating at a slight surplus will result in some fat gain though. Otherwise, you can diet down at a slight deficit. 10% from maintenance would probably be enough considering you're probably pretty lean.

Diet will also be important, usually eating as much as you can ofr your goals (hence the very minimal deficit, or only adding in an extra ~200 calories for bulking/building muscle), and then eating ~1g/lb of lean body mass for protein every day.

If you don't have time to lift weights and you feel that you have muscle underneath the fat, then you can just lower your calories a bit, eat lots of protein, and hope you mostly lose body fat only. Which is more likely to happen with a smaller deficit anyways. I have some calculators on my profile that can help you figure out your estimated maintenance needs, then subtract 10%-15% from the number they give you in the first two links, or the 3rd link select the percentage and it will do it for you. I recommend calculating with your dancing accounted for since it's likely pretty consistent, so TDEE method would work well for you.

Body recomposition itself involves eating at maintenance while lifting weights, usually benefits newbies only/the most. So for this you'd need to be lifting weights.

gmallan

If you're doing 20-30 hours a week training I suspect you'll have pretty decent abdominal muscles under there somewhere. Sounds like gradual fat loss with strength training to minimise muscle loss is going to the be way to go.

Do you know how much (calories) you're eating at the moment? If you know your TDEE or maintenance cals then just eat at a small (10-15%) deficit from that with strength training and adequate protein to help minimise muscle loss.

In terms of strength training and muscle gain, you can't put on a substantial amount of muscle mass if you're eating at a deficit anyway. You CAN however gain plenty of strength through neuromuscular adaption (basically strengthening neural pathways and making the muscles you already have more efficient).

In terms of how much and what strength training to do, it might be good to have a chat to someone more knowledgable. With your already heavy training schedule it'll be important to manage it well to make sure you aren't burning out and it isn't having too much of an impact on your other training

goldfishilies

My TDEE seems to vary from about 2,400 - 2,800 depending on the calculator I use. I would say that I probably eat around that much. Some days a little more, some days a little less. I'm just guessing though. I usually have a pretty big breakfast and dinner, a slightly lighter sized lunch, and a bunch of small snacks for energy during the day.

daynerz

Abs are made in the kitchen, of course exercises help, but for most of us, we all have a couple of abs naturally to show.
You need to go in a caloric deficit, if you are worried about striking to low, that is normal, you won't die however. Eat a few hundred under your maintenance and then keep cutting down from there. .. Eat anything you want, however to stay full eat quality food, so carbs, not chocolate bars for they are fast digesting, eat pasta, rice, ect... complex carbs that stabilize your energy for hours..
Find out what your numbers are.. from here
http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/

daynerz

You also may want to consider Intermittent Fasting, That method will help you reach some goals at top speed. I have been practicing this method for years when I want to cut at more speed...
Basically you set yourself a feeding window 4-8 hours of eating, the rest of the hours are fasting (body ends up burning fat stores for energy once the glycogen (carb stores) empty)
This idea dates back to our ancestory, how humans are very much built to fast...
Research, GL my friend

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TavistockToad

do they mean better core strength or asthetically you need abs?

bootcampit

My experience is that abs require exercise and clean eating. Doing cardio and core exercises are important, but clean eating is a must. What you eat and drink will make or break you - lots of protein helps with muscle building....I try to eat my weight in protein each day. Avoiding sugars and simple carbs will give results. Also drink at least .5 - 1 gallon of water while eating 5 small meals per day. This is what my boot camp trainers have been telling me and I'm seeing great results. I've lost 30 lbs and 13% body fat. Lastly, I'm a visual person and can easily forget things, so consistently using My Fitness Pal to log my eating and exercising has been helpful too.

I understand your concern regarding not eating enough calories. Definitely eat 1200 (maybe that amount is more for you due to gender. I'd google it) calories a day or more, depending on your activity level, or your body will go into starvation mode and store fat. Aim to eat about 200 calories less than your limit (base amount + calories burned in exercising). Hope this helps. It's just a day at a time commitment with the understanding that the results aren't seen instantaneously. Stick with it and your core strength will begin to show results.

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J72FIT

daynerz wrote: »

Basically you set yourself a feeding window 4-8 hours of eating, the rest of the hours are fasting (body ends up burning fat stores for energy once the glycogen (carb stores) empty)

As long as you are in a state of negative energy balance yes... if not then no. Has nothing to do with glycogen stores being empty.

J72FIT

daynerz wrote: »

Abs are made in the kitchen

Abs are made with exercise, they are revealed in the kitchen...

J72FIT

bootcampit wrote: »

My experience is that abs require exercise and clean eating.

Abs require exercise and calorie deficit... clean or not does not matter...

panther1911

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/maia2.htm