Q&A session - live right now!

CannibalisticVegetarian

Not sure how silly this sounds, but I'll ask anyway.

I know that swimming is fantastic cardio work, but could it also be used for strength training? Like on days when you can't get to the weight rack due to crowds, could you get the same results merely by swimming a couple of laps in an Olympic sized swimming pool?

No.

I mean, on a fundamental level, swimming can certainly be classified as 'resistance training.' I mean, due to things like viscosity and drag as your body moves through water, there's a degree of resistance involved.

But when your body's accustomed to lifting weights that are heavy relative to your strength level, the magnitude of resistance involved in swimming is too low. Remember, you have to overload your muscles to trigger improvements.

Think of it like this. In some of the research you'll see where sedentary folks realize muscle growth in their legs when they're put on a walking program. That's because they're going from doing nothing to doing something. But what if you took someone who has been squatting and deadlifting for years and put them on a walking program? Do you think walking would/could replace the stresses involved in their squatting and deadlift training?

Point taken. Thanks a lot for answering that for me! ^__^

stroutman81

What would you tell a woman who wants to lose a lot of fat in her belly area? Is it better to do more cardio now and then focus on lifting later or a mix of both?

I'd tell her to read my post above about "flexing fat" and not being able to spot reduce. I'd also tell her to stop focusing on where the fat is stored, chalk that up to genetics. Rather I'd have her focus on a balanced approach to exercise that likely included SOME conditioning work and SOME resistance training.

I'd educate her to understand that resistance training, in most cases, should be prioritized over conditioning.

Yup, that's right.

I'd also help her understand that when it comes to fat loss, nutrition is the primary driver to success.

Thanks Steve. I guess I've just hit a point of total frustration with myself and my progress. I'm having such a hard time getting back on track 100%. All I can focus on is the fat I have to lose and how I'm not losing it. I think my mind is working against me to a point. I need to get back into it mentally.

That fat on your belly is here and now. It's staring at you every time you look in the mirror. Obviously it can easily overwhelm your reasoning and focus. Here's the deal though. The only thing that's going to get rid of it is a lot of consistent and deliberate effort over long periods of time. When you're only dealing with a little bit of fat, relatively speaking, it becomes a matter of will and consistency than anything else.

You can go for what seems forever without seeing any changes. But eventually, and I mean this, things just happen. The further along the spectrum of fat/lean you go, the less linear results tend to be.

So screw the problem areas you're seeing in the mirror. Direct your attention to the process. Prioritize consistency and patience above all else.

And if make sure you have your nutrition dialed in as well as your training.

recee96

I'm a 41-year-old woman and I've started lifting 2 days a week. What do you recommend for a good full-body circuit?

One that:

1) focuses on compound lifts

2) focuses on moving more weight as time goes on

3) hits at least one movement from each of the following categories - squat variation, hip hinge variation, pressing, pulling.

4) emphasizes your entire body, which should be obvious from point 3

That's pretty general, but that's sort of the point... there are many ways to skin this cat. How I'd specifically structure it to your given situation depends on things like your weight/fat level, your goals, your experience, your equipment availability, your current and past injury status, your anthropometry, etc.

But put it this way. In most situations, I could simply do something like (examples in parentheses):

Day 1:

Squat (barbell squat, leg press, goblet squat)
Single Leg Hip Hinge (single leg glute bridge, single leg DB romanian deadlift, single leg leg curl)
Horizontal Pull (cable row, chest supported rows, bent over rows, inverted rows)
Vertical Press (standing overhead presses, arnolds, push presses)
Core

Day 2:

Hip Hinge (conventional deadlift, barbell hip thrust, glute ham raise, romanian deadlift)
Single Leg Squat (RFESS, step-ups, reverse lunge)
Vertical Pull (pull-ups, chins, pulldowns)
Horizontal Press (bench press variations, pushup variations, floor presses, dips)
Core

As time go on, should a woman increase reps or weights? I'm also starting out on my own with strength training as I used to take resistance training classes, but didn't really see the desired results.

jayhawkfan51

Thank you.

rachmaree

I've signed up for a 15km, as a one off challenge, and have started training for it, doing about 3 jogs/runs per week... It should fit in nicely with my goal to lose a little fat.
I've still been doing 3 weight training days, with one day off per week. Would you suggest doing body part splits on the 3 days - legs/ shoulders, chest/triceps back/biceps, or fully body workouts?

stroutman81

Can deadlifts help with cellulite?

I'm sure I could come up with a fancy answer that could be summed up with "maybe."

But probably not.

Cellulite seems to be helped mostly by having good genetics and low levels of fat. In many cases, unless women are looking to get physique-competitor-lean, they need to learn to manage their expectations and accept that women, by their very nature, are supposed to carry more fat on the lower halves.

That said, if fat levels are indeed low, I suppose adding some muscle under it might help flatten out any dimply fat residing above it.

deanna_bond

THANK YOU

stroutman81

I'm a 41-year-old woman and I've started lifting 2 days a week. What do you recommend for a good full-body circuit?

One that:

1) focuses on compound lifts

2) focuses on moving more weight as time goes on

3) hits at least one movement from each of the following categories - squat variation, hip hinge variation, pressing, pulling.

4) emphasizes your entire body, which should be obvious from point 3

That's pretty general, but that's sort of the point... there are many ways to skin this cat. How I'd specifically structure it to your given situation depends on things like your weight/fat level, your goals, your experience, your equipment availability, your current and past injury status, your anthropometry, etc.

But put it this way. In most situations, I could simply do something like (examples in parentheses):

Day 1:

Squat (barbell squat, leg press, goblet squat)
Single Leg Hip Hinge (single leg glute bridge, single leg DB romanian deadlift, single leg leg curl)
Horizontal Pull (cable row, chest supported rows, bent over rows, inverted rows)
Vertical Press (standing overhead presses, arnolds, push presses)
Core

Day 2:

Hip Hinge (conventional deadlift, barbell hip thrust, glute ham raise, romanian deadlift)
Single Leg Squat (RFESS, step-ups, reverse lunge)
Vertical Pull (pull-ups, chins, pulldowns)
Horizontal Press (bench press variations, pushup variations, floor presses, dips)
Core

As time go on, should a woman increase reps or weights? I'm also starting out on my own with strength training as I used to take resistance training classes, but didn't really see the desired results.

If I had to pick one, I'd say weight.

I mean you can only add reps so much until you're essentially doing cardio with weights, right?

Typically I don't like to go any higher than 15 reps per set. Most of the meat of my programming is actually in the 5-10 rep range in fact. Of course things vary person to person based on their goals and bodies. But the point is, getting stronger is the fundamental unit of getting leaner in most cases in my opinion.

tinad120

Is it okay to eat below your BMR if you have a lot of body fat to lose?

stroutman81

I've signed up for a 15km, as a one off challenge, and have started training for it, doing about 3 jogs/runs per week... It should fit in nicely with my goal to lose a little fat.
I've still been doing 3 weight training days, with one day off per week. Would you suggest doing body part splits on the 3 days - legs/ shoulders, chest/triceps back/biceps, or fully body workouts?

Full body for sure.

If you find that mileage starts adding up where it, in conjunction with the leg strength training, beats you up... I'd suggest maybe cutting volume on the leg stuff. A couple of sets of 4-6 will help stave off muscle loss. But yeah, I'd suggest 2-3 full body sessions per week.

stroutman81

Is it okay to eat below your BMR if you have a lot of body fat to lose?

Yup. I know many people will flip out when they read that. But as long as you're covering the nutritional essentials, it's not going to hurt you.

britneygail3

I was working out twice a day, strenght training and running in the morning and insanity at night... but cut it back insainty once a day, per dr. I had all my levels drawn a couple days ago, I go back to the dr next week, hopefully im normal Lol. Thanks!!

tameko2

there's a lot of talk about women having a harder time losing fat once they are at a certain level of leanness. Where do you find that starts to kick in for women - like what range of leanness do you see that most women stat to struggle more? And, do you notice a difference between clients that were overweight vs ones that were already normal weight? (Like a woman who started dieting at 25% might not struggle til 18% but a woman that started at 35% might struggle at 25%?)

jynxxxed

Would I benefit more buying my vitamins at a place like GNC rather than walmart One a Day viatmins? I have heard a lot of conflicting information.

mkinder02

it doesnt give more calories for lifting weights, but does for running. Is that right? I am much hungrier on days that i lift weights.

Dancerten

I know I'm out of the 2 hour time limit now, but I figured I throw this out there anyway... The resident trainer at the gym I belong to has a Q&A board for members to get advice from him. A few weeks ago, he wrote "To lose weight fast, cut out all dairy, grains, and fruit from your diet" with a little blurb about sugars. Now, that sounded a little vague to me, so I wrote "For how long? Permanently? Should you work out on this diet, if so where do you get your energy?". When I came back a couple days later, all he had written was "To lose weight fast, CUT OUT ALL DAIRY, GRAINS, AND FRUIT!".

Now, I always thought this guy was kind of a quack to begin with, but this really was the tipping point for me. Can you confirm or deny my suspicions? Thanks for your time )

stroutman81

I was working out twice a day, strenght training and running in the morning and insanity at night... but cut it back insainty once a day, per dr. I had all my levels drawn a couple days ago, I go back to the dr next week, hopefully im normal Lol. Thanks!!

Yeah, here's something to think about. If you're finding that you need multiple sessions of conditioning work per day, something is off, nutritionally speaking.

My clients who are the most successful in terms of reaching and keeping the leanest states they've ever achieved focus the majority of their efforts on good nutrition almost all of the time (without silly levels of rigidity) and they lift heavy weights progressively 2-4 times per week.

Some of them do conditioning because they like it or they want the health benefits. Some don't do any. All of them can have the same results with or without the conditioning. That can't be said for the strength training... meaning they couldn't achieve these same results without the strength training.

Hence the order of priority I've brought up a few times now.

stroutman81

there's a lot of talk about women having a harder time losing fat once they are at a certain level of leanness. Where do you find that starts to kick in for women - like what range of leanness do you see that most women stat to struggle more? And, do you notice a difference between clients that were overweight vs ones that were already normal weight? (Like a woman who started dieting at 25% might not struggle til 18% but a woman that started at 35% might struggle at 25%?)

Excellent questions and I'm running out of time... client coming in soon.

But the reality is women, thanks to their evolutionarily derived makeup and baby making, almost always find it harder to ditch fat once they're relatively lean.

At what level? If I had to pinpoint one, and YMMV, I'd say less than 20-22%.

But, as you pointed out, women who've lost a lot of fat in their past will likely see this pinpoint a bit higher on the curve thanks to the adaptations that tend to depress energy expenditure with long term and significant fat loss. It's harder to pinpoint a level here though as everyone responds differently to big weight losses. The lucky few won't even skip a beat.

stroutman81

Would I benefit more buying my vitamins at a place like GNC rather than walmart One a Day viatmins? I have heard a lot of conflicting information.

General multis? I buy mine at Target. And I'd buy them at Walmart if it were more strategically located for me than Target. There's nothing fancy about GNC. Well, there's a lot more hype there... that's for sure.

stroutman81

it doesnt give more calories for lifting weights, but does for running. Is that right? I am much hungrier on days that i lift weights.

I don't understand the question. Can you rephrase please?