Intermittent Fasting Support Group?

pork_belly

On a related train of thought, why don't you do any strength training?

My time and finances currently limit my strength training to dumbells. I do 20-30 mins of basic strength exercises and anything that I can do with body weight. My current goal is to lower my bmi to <10% and I'm currently at 15%.

I do incorporate a cheat day but have not been using them. I did it more so when I had less control of my appetite which is no longer the case for me. I do 19/5 and throw in a 36-40 hour long fast when I need to push to a goal. It sounds like I may have to try using my cheat days. I know that Tim Feriss advises to do it and I believe in a lot of what he talks about in his 4 Hour Body book.

rileysowner

Body weight stuff is just fine for it. I have weights, but prefer body weight work as it gives me just as good a workout and the movements are often more functional. Stuff like leg extensions and other isolation movements are not that natural, and while there is a place for them their use is limited. I would suggest not discounting body weight exercises as not strength training. They can be very good for strength training as long as you know how to increase the difficulty. For example a push-up. To make it easier people can either do it from their knees or place their hands on a raised surface. To make them more difficult keep your hands on the ground and put your feet on an elevated surface like a step or bench. To make them even more difficult put your feet on a stability ball and you have even more of your core engaged. Or when you can do them with your feet elevated, bring your feet down and do them one armed. To top it all off go to the planche push-up.

Most body weight exercises can be made more difficult either by changing how they are done, or by pre-exhausting helper muscles. Again using the push-up as an example. If you pre-exhaust the triceps it forces the chest muscles to work more.

Great places for body weight workout info are www.bodyweightculture.com (free) www.bodyweightcoach.com (pay although they have a free program you can sign up for) marklauren.com (free stuff but he has an excellent book on body weight training)

chrisdavey

Some BS hard stuff here!
http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials

I love it. Can't wait to be not injured so I can get into more of this stuff.

Pork_belly: are you male or female? And I assume you mean 10% body fat not BMI?

pork_belly

Body weight stuff is just fine for it. I have weights, but prefer body weight work as it gives me just as good a workout and the movements are often more functional. Stuff like leg extensions and other isolation movements are not that natural, and while there is a place for them their use is limited. I would suggest not discounting body weight exercises as not strength training. They can be very good for strength training as long as you know how to increase the difficulty. For example a push-up. To make it easier people can either do it from their knees or place their hands on a raised surface. To make them more difficult keep your hands on the ground and put your feet on an elevated surface like a step or bench. To make them even more difficult put your feet on a stability ball and you have even more of your core engaged. Or when you can do them with your feet elevated, bring your feet down and do them one armed. To top it all off go to the planche push-up.

Most body weight exercises can be made more difficult either by changing how they are done, or by pre-exhausting helper muscles. Again using the push-up as an example. If you pre-exhaust the triceps it forces the chest muscles to work more.

Great places for body weight workout info are www.bodyweightculture.com (free) www.bodyweightcoach.com (pay although they have a free program you can sign up for) marklauren.com (free stuff but he has an excellent book on body weight training)

Thanks for the info. I will have to check it out. I guess the reason I never considered it strength training is that I like to hit the "irons" for their weight albeit low reps. I can do my bodyweight easily and end up having to do higher reps to push myself. I do decline push ups and vary the weight and angle of my arms depending on when I want to hit my chest, different parts of the chest, or my triceps.

Some BS hard stuff here!
http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials

I love it. Can't wait to be not injured so I can get into more of this stuff.

Pork_belly: are you male or female? And I assume you mean 10% body fat not BMI?

This pork belly is male and yes I meant 10% body fat. I will have to look at the links you posted, too. Thanks!

chrisdavey

Aah ok. How tall are you? On the whole BF% goal thing, as it is a % and therefore a ratio. Increasing muscle mass will help you achieve the 10% if that is what you are aiming for. The issue I find is that BF %'s estimates seem to vary so much e.g. I plug my figures into the BF calcs and it says 5% and I know that is BS (I think I'm 10-12%ish at the moment).

If you are fine doing higher rep bodyweight exercises then definitely check out the beast skills site. Heaps of gymnastics type moves which are very challenging.

crisanderson27

Thanks for the info. I will have to check it out. I guess the reason I never considered it strength training is that I like to hit the "irons" for their weight albeit low reps. I can do my bodyweight easily and end up having to do higher reps to push myself. I do decline push ups and vary the weight and angle of my arms depending on when I want to hit my chest, different parts of the chest, or my triceps.

The first three months I was losing weight (roughly 37lbs worth), I was doing strictly bodyweight exercises. I wish I'd known about IF then, because I think my gains would have been even more substantial.

Bodyweight is incredibly effective, if you just think on how to increase the leverage. As Riley stated above basically. I'm going to quote my workout I used below (I use a modified version for weight training now:

Another Bodyweight Culture article, this one courtesy Cheesedog at:

http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/showthread.php?11058-Bodyweight-Strength-Training

Bodyweight Strength Training

People are always asking about strength training using only bodyweight. This is nothing new or revolutionary. I am borrowing HEAVILY from Rippatoe, Bill Starr, and lots of other great authors and trainers. This is your basic 5 x 5 template. (To clarify, 5x5 is 5 reps x 5 sets. The idea is to work at a difficulty level where you could only do maybe 7-8 reps on the first set, and are struggling to finish 5 reps on the last set). You would do strength training 3 times a week, say Monday-Wednesday-Friday with the weekends off. These are done "lazy circuits" style, with about 1 minute rest between each set.

Workout A
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Horizontal push - 5 x 5
1C. Horizontal pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - flexion - 3 x 5
2B. Ab - static 3 x 30 seconds

Workout B
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Vertical push - 5 x 5
1C. Hip dominant - 5 x 5
1D. Vertical pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - rotation - 3 x 5
2B. Grip and neck training - 3 x varies

Exercise Progressions - with regular weight training you can just add weight to the bar. With bodyweight progression is mostly about changing your leverage. These are just a few examples, I'm sure we could come up with dozens more if needed. You can always add resistance in the form of a weighted vest or backpack or resistance bands.

1. Knee Dominant -- squats, lunges, step-ups, bulgarian split squats, unilateral bent leg deadlift, partial one leg squat, one leg squat, box or stair pistols, full pistols.
2. Horizontal Push -- pushups, decline pushups, resistance pushups, side to side pushups, stair one arm pushups, negative one arm pushups, full one arm pushups.
3. Horizontal Pull -- body row, resistance body row, negative one hand row, incline one hand row, full one hand row.
4. Ab - flexion -- crunches, situps, resistance or incline situps, reverse situp, resistance or incline reverse situps, hanging knee or leg raise, hanging pikes, rollout from knees, rollout from feet, dragon flag. Also included are oblique moves like side lying crunches with or without resistance and side lying two leg raise.
5. Abs- static -- 4 point prone bridge, 3 point prone bridge, 2 point prone bridge, 4 point supine bridge, 3 point supine bridge.
6. Vertical Push -- pike pushup, hindu pushup, divebomber pushup, decline pike pushup, decline hindu pushup, decline divebomber pushup, one arm pike pushup, negative handstand pushup, handstand pushup with head touching floor, full handstand pushup.
7. Hip Dominant -- supine hip extension, good morning, one leg stiff leg deadlift, split one leg good morning, one leg supine hip extension, hyperextension, one leg hyperextension, natural glute-ham raise.
8. Vertical Pull -- jumping or assisted pullups, pullups, resistance pullups, side to side pullups, negative one hand pullups, one hand pullups. All these can refer to chinups or neutral grip pullups as well.
9. Ab - rotation -- twist crunches or situps, resistance or incline twist crunches or situps, russian twists, lying windshield wipers, standing rope rotations, hanging windshield wipers.
10. Grip and Neck Training -- for grip you can use handgrippers, deadhangs from a pullup bar (especially a fatbar or gripping a towel). For neck nothing beats wrestlers bridges. If you are involved in a striking martial art or sport, finger and fist pushups are very important also.

None of these lists have to end here. If you get strong enough you can always add resistance to your full range of motion one limb exercise. Or if you can do more than 5 one hand pushups do decline one hand pushups, or start working on one hand hindu and then eventually one hand dive bombers, and so on.

The nice thing about this routine is it scales dramatically depending on your fitness level. If you can't do even ONE regular pull up, you can scale it down and do assisted pull ups (legs on a chair), or ballistic pullups (where you jump to provide the initial momentum). It's actually easier to do properly when you're very unfit...because once you're healthy and strong...you're going to be searching for challenging enough exercises to only allow you 5 reps max by the finish of the 5 sets

The trick to this format for STRENGTH training, is to use an exercise that forces you to only be able to complete 5 reps. When I started, I could only really perform the exercises on the left of the lists...(decline pushups for horizontal press, modified pike pushup for vertical press, regular squats, etc). By the time I switched to weight training 3mos later...I was doing things like decline one leg up 90/10 pushups (90% of your weight on one arm), handstand pushups, and pistols...all in the 5x5 format.

Here's the difference...in just a few months:



Again...with IF...I think I'd be down around 15% bodyfat now, instead of the 18%ish I'm at. I seriously, seriously wish I'd known about it.../sigh!

chrisdavey

all part of the "journey" mate Stick with it and you'll be down to 15% in no time.

BTW awesome progress already!!!

crisanderson27

all part of the "journey" mate Stick with it and you'll be down to 15% in no time.

BTW awesome progress already!!!

Tha man...appreciate it =D.

I share those pictures, and the workout routine, etc...because it worked so freakin well for me...and only seeing the pictures really shows how well, and makes people notice. I was like 212lbs on April 2nd, and am 173lbs now (been bouncing there for a couple weeks, but I haven't been pushing either). I see some of the crazy posts on this forum, and I just want to shake people sometimes and point at my signature/link lol. It's not that my way is the best, or only way...it's just that it freakin worked. I didn't do a day of cardio in the entire four months...not one. IF jump started my losses again bigtime too.

There's a kid at my gym, 23ish, my height, 220lbs when I met him. He came up to me a couple weeks ago and asked me how I got my 'build'. I'm not one of the big guys in my gym...though I guess I look bigger with a pump going. Maybe he chose me for our similar heights. I showed him the picture of me above...and the one now...and explained how and what I did...and that him already being at the gym was a bonus (he was doing a lot of split exercises, mostly arms lol...and five days a week). I told him work his whole freakin body every workout, 3 days a week. REST in between!! Concentrate on his legs each session, and branch out from there. I also explained IF to him.

He's lost 13lbs in 2wks...and says he feels stronger, and more focused than he ever has in his life.

All of this stuff combined...just works. I'll never do it any other way again.

chrisdavey

Yeah, I suppose IF can seem a bit extreme to some but you just need to have a bit of will power and self control really. I'm also a big advocate of full body resistance training at least until a solid base of strength is achieved.

Although, in saying that I still do like my cardio. I love to have fitness for mma, burpees, mass pullups etc. Not really interested in long distance running anymore but I can see why some people like it.

crisanderson27

Yeah, I suppose IF can seem a bit extreme to some but you just need to have a bit of will power and self control really. I'm also a big advocate of full body resistance training at least until a solid base of strength is achieved.

Although, in saying that I still do like my cardio. I love to have fitness for mma, burpees, mass pullups etc. Not really interested in long distance running anymore but I can see why some people like it.

Yeah...I don't like that I'm missing that part if the puzzle so much. I hate traditional cardio though! I live at 5000' elevation, and work outdoors all day...so its not like I'm winded going up stairs...but I'd definitely prefer to be more well rounded. I think I'm going to start doing light bodyweight stuff for endurance rather than strength...and continue my heavy bag work on off days to improve it some.

Any other suggestions?

rileysowner

Do body weight complexes. Pick about 5-10 exercises, preferably not isolation type exercises and don't do exercises that use the same muscle groups back to back. Do 10 reps of each exercise as fast as you can with good form, immediately go to the next exercise with no rest between them. Go though all the exercises this way which is one set. Rest 60 seconds to 90 seconds and repeat 2-3 more times. This really gets the heart rate up if done correctly.

Or you could do something similar but do the exercises based on time instead. Say 30 seconds or 60 seconds each doing as many repetitions as you can then immediately going to the next exercise through the whole list. Rest 60-90 seconds and repeat 2-3 times.

Of course there is always the Tabata protocol of doing an exercise for 20 seconds with only 10 seconds rest for 8 intervals. It will build up fitness really well.

crisanderson27

Do body weight complexes. Pick about 5-10 exercises, preferably not isolation type exercises and don't do exercises that use the same muscle groups back to back. Do 10 reps of each exercise as fast as you can with good form, immediately go to the next exercise with no rest between them. Go though all the exercises this way which is one set. Rest 60 seconds to 90 seconds and repeat 2-3 more times. This really gets the heart rate up if done correctly.

Or you could do something similar but do the exercises based on time instead. Say 30 seconds or 60 seconds each doing as many repetitions as you can then immediately going to the next exercise through the whole list. Rest 60-90 seconds and repeat 2-3 times.

Of course there is always the Tabata protocol of doing an exercise for 20 seconds with only 10 seconds rest for 8 intervals. It will build up fitness really well.

I do tabata for my heavy bag work...its a love/hate thing lol.

Additionally...my strength training isn't really traditional, in that my rests are absolutely minimal. I keep my heart rate over 140 at minimum the entire session (usually 40 minutes), and only let it drop 5pts between sets. I would assume this has cardiovascular benefits as well, lol.

Anyhow, the complexes sound like fun...or just tossing in dome other forms of tabata. I do seriously need to choose something and start on it though. 30-45 minutes of hardcore intervals on Tue/Thur certainly can't hurt.

rileysowner

I share the love/hate thing on Tabatas with you. They work a body really well, but by the time I am at interval 5 or 6 I am wishing it was over. When it is all I want to do is collapse to the floor, but I know I need to cool down first. I stopped doing them when I had a meniscus tear flare up in May which still causes me pain. I guess I could have done them with a different exercise than the thrusters I was doing, but I decided to put them on the shelf until I healed. I am seeing an orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday and since my pain, albeit diminished, has continued since May, I am guessing surgery is in the future. After I re-hab from that I will probably do tabatas again.

hush7hush

Just checking in. [: Looks like I've got a LOT of reading to catch up on from you boys.

crisanderson27

Just checking in. [: Looks like I've got a LOT of reading to catch up on from you boys.

Mostly me running my mouth about exercising lol.

TrishJimenez

bump

Q9S7

I enjoy the leangains approach

Silfer

Glad to see people here doing Intermittent Fasting. I am doing IF for 4 weeks now. I already lost 6.25% of my beginning body weight. I know it was way off; it's because I do not count my calories intake during my eating hours...LOL... I am glad to see this site. I can now monitor what I eat. This time I am serious. I need to lose the next 14% of my beginning body weight within 4 weeks to reach my ideal BMI.

Any tips guys. By the way, I have congenital heart disease so exercising is not possible for me. I am resorting to IF so I can avoid the risk of being obese and having diabetes (it runs in the family).

Thanks in advance!

SergeantSunshine_reused

Whoop whoop im in too good thread to read!

cutmd

I fell off this thread big time. Just finished a 36 hr fast. Pulling my hair out trying to lose more weight

Grokette

I fell off this thread big time. Just finished a 36 hr fast. Pulling my hair out trying to lose more weight

You are looking awesome in that profile pic of yours!!!

I feel off everything big time due to stress.............boo - but I am alleviating that part of the stress by getting back on the wagon and turning, turning and turning it.

I completed a 16 hour fast today and had half rack of baby back ribs, wedge of grilled cabbage and a couple bites of a sweet potato.

Tummy is full and satisfied.

chrisdavey

Still loving IF Feel like such a piggy with the amount of food I eat in the evenings (compared to my housemates that is) but got to do what you got to do Last week I ate more and moved a little bit more than usual. Had a good old binge on Friday and get some crazy high fat numbers (I'm addicted to cashews sorry LOL) and then had 2 days at "maintenance cals" and I ended up losing 800g. And I am still trying to gain weight. Very odd.

Also, for people who do carb/calorie cycling LG style. Do you wake up heavier after a higher carb day? I see lots of people on bb.com getting this (which would make sense because of water retention with additional carbs) but I don't seem to get anything? It's weird. Low days are around 200g carbs and high days are around 350-400g carbs.

crisanderson27

I enjoy the leangains approach

I see that lol!

hush7hush

Holy lots of new posts! [:

theresamommyof4

Still loving IF Feel like such a piggy with the amount of food I eat in the evenings (compared to my housemates that is) but got to do what you got to do Last week I ate more and moved a little bit more than usual. Had a good old binge on Friday and get some crazy high fat numbers (I'm addicted to cashews sorry LOL) and then had 2 days at "maintenance cals" and I ended up losing 800g. And I am still trying to gain weight. Very odd.

Also, for people who do carb/calorie cycling LG style. Do you wake up heavier after a higher carb day? I see lots of people on bb.com getting this (which would make sense because of water retention with additional carbs) but I don't seem to get anything? It's weird. Low days are around 200g carbs and high days are around 350-400g carbs.

Chris, I don't do carb/calorie cycling, but I always wake up heavier after a day of high carbs. I also wake up heavier if I eat red meats... no clue why. Maybe because it doesn't digest as quickly? I have to say, I can't help but be a little jealous! Can't wait until I'm trying to gain! lol!

TheBraveryLover

Bump

Will be starting IF tomorrow. So excited!

Acg67

Bump

Will be starting IF tomorrow. So excited!

good luck! everyone is different in how fast if at all they can adapt to a whole new meal pattern like this

NeonNikki

I've only read a little bit about IF but I really enjoy the no eating after 9 or before 1...16 hour fast? I don't do it every day but I am trying really hard to get into that habit. I also enjoy 20 hr fast and sometimes 24 hrs but I do it for stomach issues as i'm not looking to lose much weight. ... so I don't do it often. It does feel good though. I like to be able to go out to eat with friends on "off" days and not feel bad about it that's the best.

pork_belly

Bump

Will be starting IF tomorrow. So excited!

Welcome to the dark side!!!! JK...Welcome aboard!!! IF is awesome if you it works for you. I can't think of ever stopping.

pork_belly

I've only read a little bit about IF but I really enjoy the no eating after 9 or before 1...16 hour fast? I don't do it every day but I am trying really hard to get into that habit. I also enjoy 20 hr fast and sometimes 24 hrs but I do it for stomach issues as i'm not looking to lose much weight. ... so I don't do it often. It does feel good though. I like to be able to go out to eat with friends on "off" days and not feel bad about it that's the best.

Yes, it feels good to go thru the day without feeling bloated or any of the stuff that usually accompanies eating thru the day.