INFO FROM A PERSONAL TRAINER/NUTRITIONIST/MODEL

mrscates

Whats up guys... ok I am going to get right into becaus truthfully my head is about to explode and well not only would that suck but Ashley would have to clean up the mess



I swear to you that it seems like every female client has the same goal in mind... tone up!



"C.J. I really don't want to lose weight I just want to get rid of these love handles and some of the stuff around my belly button and well... you know I really just want to TONE" (Shaking head with anger)



Ok, I need to make something very clear to all of you reading this. Everybody has toned muscle.... yes you heard me correct. Even you sitting in front of your laptop right now with a plate of cheese fries and foot long coney (Ashley's favorite by the way). We all have lean toned muscle... and now I know you are waiting for the "BUT"... here it comes



BUT!!!! Not all of us can see the lean toned muscle. You want to know why? Well it could be a couple of things but 99.9% of the time it is one main factor... yes the dreaded word BODY FAT! Its that stored body fat that sits nice and soft on top of your muscle that keeps you with the cheese fries from looking like Ms. Jamie Eason (Pro Fitness Model).



The truth is ladies that if you are kidding yourself into believing you can get "toned" without losing weight or body fat... you are very wrong! That especially goes for those of you that are cardio junkies and never touch a weight.



You see we all carry our body fat differently. Some of us carry it in a way that allows our stomach to look flat but you still don't see the lines from your abs (we all know this person). Then some of us carry it in a manner that makes our stomach stick out past our waist line. Its important however to understand that both examples here still have body fat covering their muscle.



To show lean toned muscle we have to do one simple thing first... shed the body fat! When we shed body fat we weigh less... wow that blew some of your minds huh Seriously guys, the only way to get a lean toned looking body is for your body fat to go down... that means that for 99% of you the scale needs to go down. "So look down at your current scale weight... and subtract 20 lbs or so... and weigh that much" bahahaha favorite movie line from Knocked up... anyway I digrece



Now there is one factor that some of you geniuses out there are going to try and combat me on. "But C.J. what if I gain muscle and loose body fat" well now your thinking!

Yes that is a possiblity HOWEVER you need to understand for the NATURAL athlete (natural being the key word there) it is only reallistic that you will grow at most 5-10 lbs of muscle in a year!!! Yes in a year... and if you grow 10 lbs in a year you are a freak of nature! Truth is that for most female athletes you will grow no more than 2-3 lbs of muscle each year... assuming you are lifting heavy weights and eating enough protein.



So with that being said.... is it reallisitic for most of us to believe that we can grow muscle and lose body fat in a few weeks? NO FREAKING WAY! As a matter of fact for most competitive Fitness Models and other athletes they will tell you that they actually lose a little bit of muscle when they are dieting... thats simply because they are in a calorie deficiet and well.... its really hard to get enough protein to grow when you are restricting calories.



That takes me back to what I said earlier. For those of you cardio junkies that have never stepped foot in the weight room... YOU WILL NOT GAIN MUSCLE!!!!! This means if you want to "Tone Up" your only shot is for the scale to go down thus your body fat going down.



Runners put themselves at a special risk... you see tons of you out there especially women love to hit the treadmill and only eat twigs and berrys all day for their diet. This means they put themselves in a HUGE calorie deficiet wich means their lean muscle is being broken down and used for energy.... what does this mean?

With less lean muscle our metabolism slowly but surely starts to decrease. You see the key ingredient in our Basil Metabolic Rate is our Fat Free Mass (which muscle takes part in). So basically what I am saying is.....



TONS OF CARDIO + ZERO WEIGHTS + ONLY EATING SALADS = LESS MUSCLES = SLOW METABOLISM = CRAPPY LOOKING PHYSIQUE



Ok guys I have rambled on enough here but I hope you see my point. Shout at me and give me some feedback here. Would love to hear from some of you guys.

mrscates

INFO FROM: C.J. WOODRUFF

Oompa_Loompa

*like*!!

Naomi91

women of mfp PLEASE READ THIS. haha xD

FaithandFitness

I saw this posted before, and I have a question for you. I started training with a personal trainer at my gym, and have been working with her for nearly a year. In that time I have steadily lost body fat (nearly 15%) and she says that I gain lean muscle mass . . . at this point nearly 25lbs up in lean muscle mass with my steady decrease. Does that mean I have gained muscle along the way? I was wondering from a few of the statements in your quotes. She measures using calipers and tape measure . . . I started dropping my body fat from 45% to 35% with very little change in weight, and now that I have figured out how to eat better I have been dropping weight. Once I started dropping weight I "gained one lb of lean muscle mass" one month, and "dropped a lb of lean muscle mass" the next month. I am a very athletic build and she says I am so much stronger than a lot of her female clients so she loves to throw heavy weight at me and I love it. Just wondering if the early stats were accurate in the gains of my lean muscle. Thanks.

darla499

Thanks!

Great info there.

Jillk1023

dont have time to read and absorb right now (at work)but seems very intresting what u r saying... so gonna bump this until later

fuzzymel

It does make sense.

hpsnickers1

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

This is what I have learned since I started this health journey. What's so sad is you have to dig through so much crap before you can find the real info.

Thanks for putting it out there.

sam23030

Interesting to read. It's good to know, but my difficulty is not knowing a) what sort of weight I should be working with to get definition and not seem too muscular and b) what sort of exercises to do. I can't really afford to go to the gym atm and definetly can't afford a personal trainer, so it's difficult to know where to start.

Everyone assumes that if you don't weigh a lot you will automatically look good, in a way it's nice to know that my body not looking great isn't all down to my food, I need to be a little less lazy exercise wise!!

hpsnickers1

Interesting to read. It's good to know, but my difficulty is not knowing a) what sort of weight I should be working with to get definition and not seem too muscular and b) what sort of exercises to do. I can't really afford to go to the gym atm and definetly can't afford a personal trainer, so it's difficult to know where to start.

Everyone assumes that if you don't weigh a lot you will automatically look good, in a way it's nice to know that my body not looking great isn't all down to my food, I need to be a little less lazy exercise wise!!

You don't need to have an actual number for weights at first. Tony Horton from P90X says for size: heavy enough for 8-10 reps to fail (this mean lose your form); and for lean muscles: heavy enough for 12-15 reps to fail. You want the last 3 to be very, very hard but don't want to risk losing form. This could help you figure out where to start as far as weight.

But what she explains is that you won't get "too muscular". And you can find the exercises everywhere. You can search the message boards, YouTube, Bodybuilding sites, about.com. Lifts, squats, lunges, presses, etc.

You can find resistance bands to. They can replace weights. I use them for pull downs because I don't have the right space for doing pull ups.

shaunshaikh

The condescending tone wasn't really needed.

hroush

Interesting to read. It's good to know, but my difficulty is not knowing a) what sort of weight I should be working with to get definition and not seem too muscular and b) what sort of exercises to do. I can't really afford to go to the gym atm and definetly can't afford a personal trainer, so it's difficult to know where to start.

Everyone assumes that if you don't weigh a lot you will automatically look good, in a way it's nice to know that my body not looking great isn't all down to my food, I need to be a little less lazy exercise wise!!

A) You need to lift about as heavy as you can. You will not become bulky, you will become toned. As for a workout, follow this and it will tell you everything you need to know:

http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/

Yes it is meant for guys who want to lift huge weights, but it will work just as well for girls.

End6ame

THANK YOU!.

My standard reply to the "i want to get toned" person, is that there is no such thing as toning, there is only stronger and weaker.

bmontgomery87

Thank you.
I hate hearing people say they don't want to bulk up, they just want to tone.

End6ame

Interesting to read. It's good to know, but my difficulty is not knowing a) what sort of weight I should be working with to get definition and not seem too muscular and b) what sort of exercises to do. I can't really afford to go to the gym atm and definetly can't afford a personal trainer, so it's difficult to know where to start.

Everyone assumes that if you don't weigh a lot you will automatically look good, in a way it's nice to know that my body not looking great isn't all down to my food, I need to be a little less lazy exercise wise!!

A) You need to lift about as heavy as you can. You will not become bulky, you will become toned. As for a workout, follow this and it will tell you everything you need to know:

http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/

Yes it is meant for guys who want to lift huge weights, but it will work just as well for girls.

This is the same program I have been on for the last six months. It is awesome. Glad to see i am no longer the only one recommending it.

_SpeshK_

love it !

alana1966

The condescending tone wasn't really needed.

I agree - we are all here for the same reason(s) and don't claim to be experts (most of us) and are willing to read and take into consideration everyone's opinions and advice, which may or may not be correct or necessarily helpful for everyone. We don't HAVE to believe every post we read (i.e. "starvation mode"), but we are here to learn as much as we can to try and reach our goals (which are not all alike, necessarily) and really, not a bunch of total idiots... I think people that want to "tone" DO realize that there is a layer (or more) of fat covering their muscles.

Azuleelan

The condescending tone wasn't really needed.

Seriously? Taking offense? :indifferent:

End6ame

The condescending tone wasn't really needed.

Seriously? Taking offense? :indifferent:

Truth offends people.

HolleeERL

The condescending tone wasn't really needed.

I agree - we are all here for the same reason(s) and don't claim to be experts (most of us) and are willing to read and take into consideration everyone's opinions and advice, which may or may not be correct or necessarily helpful for everyone. We don't HAVE to believe every post we read (i.e. "starvation mode"), but we are here to learn as much as we can to try and reach our goals (which are not all alike, necessarily) and really, not a bunch of total idiots... I think people that want to "tone" DO realize that there is a layer (or more) of fat covering their muscles.

I actually appreciated the tone. It is EXACTLY what I needed this morning. Are we not all adults here?

Anyway, Thank YOU for posting this. I get sick of hearing I'm not losing the weight because "I must be gaining muscle" I often try to fool myself into thinking that is right, but I really know better. I run for the most part, but I do incorporate weights for upper body. I LOVE the P90X program and for those women who are afraid of bulking up, the way to do it is to use lighter weights and do more reps. I personally like the challenge of heavier weights when I can (except for my biceps - they DO tend to bulk)