So you want a nice stomach

fanncy0626 wrote: »

I am doing SL 5x5 every other day mainly because I have a sweet tooth. I do eat clean except for my daily indulgence which might be a bear creek caramel waffle cone for example. I have cut my cardio down from 25 hours a week to just about 0. I have been lifting for 14 weeks, gained 4 lbs, lost 17.5 inches dropped from size 10 to size 5 - 7 depending on fit.

I have 2 questions. One, I would like to lift more but work from home what are "splits" ?

2. It's summer and I live on a bike trail and bought a "street strider" which is a elliptical bike. I would like to do that for fun. How would that affect my weight lifting program?

Thanks!!

To answer your questions:
1. Splits are simply how your workouts and body parts are divided each week. If I remember correctly there isn't really a split to Stronglifts since you either do the same workout every day or very similar workouts (such as squatting 3x per week). Other splits could be where you squat day one, bench day two, deadlift day three. Another is upper day one, lower day two, upper day three, lower day four. Another is push day one, pull day two, push day three, pull day four. One of the most common in bodybuilding is chest and back day one, legs day two, chest shoulders and triceps day three, legs day four, back and biceps day five.

2. Increasing your activity level will only impact your lifting negatively if you aren't getting adequate rest and nutrition. That means you will need to plan your workouts around the activities (especially since you don't want to squat after a long trail ride). You may also need to eat a bit more if you are burning more calories.

JessicaThompson12 wrote: »

So question or many questions. I'm 5'3, currently 128lbs. I'd like to get to about 123. I've been there before and once I get there I don't really know how to tone myself. I have the baby pouch from my 8 year old that no matter how much weight I lose, it won't go away so I feel a big discouraged by that. Just gets more wrinkly and looser. So I guess once you get to your goal weight where do you go from there?

If you reach your goal weight and are unhappy with how you look still it's time for recomposition. It means you need to eat at about maintenance and do some strength training.

JessicaThompson12 wrote: »

usmcmp wrote: »

JessicaThompson12 wrote: »

So question or many questions. I'm 5'3, currently 128lbs. I'd like to get to about 123. I've been there before and once I get there I don't really know how to tone myself. I have the baby pouch from my 8 year old that no matter how much weight I lose, it won't go away so I feel a big discouraged by that. Just gets more wrinkly and looser. So I guess once you get to your goal weight where do you go from there?

If you reach your goal weight and are unhappy with how you look still it's time for recomposition. It means you need to eat at about maintenance and do some strength training.

So once you reach your goal weight and you still feel parts of your are fatty then strength training will fix those? I guess that's the part that confuses me. I know you can strength train all you want but if you don't reduce body fat then it won't be seen. So if you are at goal weight, a healthy BMI, but still a bit fatty in areas then do you start with weights or keep losing?

The goal of lifting weights is to keep your lean mass or build a but more lean mass. If you are eating at about your maintenance and lifting weights you will very slowly build some muscle while losing fat. If you don't have the firm body under the fat you'll have to keep losing more and more weight (muscle weight and fat, because our bodies use our muscle when we are dieting). Lifting is the key to making sure the weight you lose is fat.

pearl12970 wrote: »

Thanks for this awesome post. What training program, besides Strong Lifts , would you recommend for someone relatively new to strength training ? I am 5 foot 2 inches, current weight is 117 pounds . I do circuit training 3/week which includes cardio + weights but I want to move away from it and lift heavy.

Check out some of the programs on Bodybuilding.com. I'm personally not a fan of Stronglifts (for me at least). Another suggestion is New Rules of Lifting. It's educational as well as a training program.