Is this enough exercise?

SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake
SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake Posts: 268 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Goal to lose 30-35lbs of body fat, and maintain current muscle or maybe lose a bit if needed for aesthetics.

Diet plan: 3 weeks on, 1 week off. Each week 6 days at 1600-1800. 1 day at 2000+. Week off at 1800-2000. Assess every month and adjust calories as needed.
Tried 1600 cal w/ 1 day per week higher cal for 4 months at a time, lost 20lbs and energy tanked terribly, gained back 10lbs before stabilizing. So now I'm giving breaks to calm down my body's adaptive repsonse.

Exercise plan: work heavy on trouble areas - abs, inner thigh, mid booty 3-5 /week

One day a week full body compounds at 60% usual load. I've tried three times a week at 70-80%, still grew.

60 min cardio 3-5 days/week + flexibility

Some pics for reference -

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Replies

  • ryanflebbe
    ryanflebbe Posts: 188 Member
    If work heavy on trouble areas means hard resistance training 3-5 times/wk, I don't think it's a very good idea. You don't want your abs to grow too much giving you a big blocky waist. Your abs will get better as you get leaner. If you want to grow your inner thighs and glutes, that's up to you. I would take some of the time and energy you are planning on focusing on your trouble areas, and work other underdeveloped muscles, since big, compound movements seem to be a problem. Overall, I think it's enough exercise.
  • SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake
    SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake Posts: 268 Member
    edited February 2020
    ryanflebbe wrote: »
    If work heavy on trouble areas means hard resistance training 3-5 times/wk, I don't think it's a very good idea. You don't want your abs to grow too much giving you a big blocky waist. Your abs will get better as you get leaner. If you want to grow your inner thighs and glutes, that's up to you. I would take some of the time and energy you are planning on focusing on your trouble areas, and work other underdeveloped muscles, since big, compound movements seem to be a problem. Overall, I think it's enough exercise.

    Thank you for your advice. I read this as just do cardio 3 times a week and do isolation work one day a week. Did I
    read that correctly? Also, do you think I should do vacuums in the meantime?
  • ryanflebbe
    ryanflebbe Posts: 188 Member
    No, keep the cardio the same, do your one day of full body compound lifting, and use those 3-5 ab/inner thigh/glute(a/it/g haha) days to work all weak points, from a muscle size/physique balance perspective, including a/it/b. Also, I ASSumed you were going to bang out a ton of crunches, machine crunches, hanging leg raises, etc. for abs. Vacuums would be good and obviously help bring in your waist, so do them freely. So I guess I should ask what kind of exercises/training you were planning on doing for your a/it/g, after assuming incorrectly about abs.
  • SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake
    SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake Posts: 268 Member
    ryanflebbe wrote: »
    No, keep the cardio the same, do your one day of full body compound lifting, and use those 3-5 ab/inner thigh/glute(a/it/g haha) days to work all weak points, from a muscle size/physique balance perspective, including a/it/b. Also, I ASSumed you were going to bang out a ton of crunches, machine crunches, hanging leg raises, etc. for abs. Vacuums would be good and obviously help bring in your waist, so do them freely. So I guess I should ask what kind of exercises/training you were planning on doing for your a/it/g, after assuming incorrectly about abs.


    As for the abs, you were actually right. I train abs heavy - 45-80lbs and I do mid level calisthenics to do the whole core stabilizers. I was planning glute isolation like pulses, bad girls, and other random "doesn't make your legs bigger" exercises. And good girls and standing ballet stuff for inner thighs. I don't want to work arms, because they're huge already, and I train chest hard, which I think trains arms enough. Between deadlifts and calisthenics, I think I get back done.

    Shoulder boulders, traps, and a lat spread isn't my jam. Legit feel like I just need to shed the marshmallow layers, and do so in a way that keeps the hard earned gainz.

    So what specifically do you think I need to work on besides be less fat?
  • ryanflebbe
    ryanflebbe Posts: 188 Member
    It sounds like you have a pretty good idea how your body responds and how to train it, at least a well informed plan. I don't know if I can offer much else within the limitations of a message board. Just watch those abs and if you lift hard, you'll probably keep most of your muscle. You seem to grow easily. So if you think you need to lose that much fat, go for it, see what you have, and re-access. Actually, I guess there is one trick you could use while you're cutting. It's taking any body part you think is just too big and muscular, and train it very lightly, or not at all. It's obviously easier to shrink a muscle in a calorie deficit. You are kind of doing that anyway though. Good luck.
  • ryanflebbe
    ryanflebbe Posts: 188 Member
    Oh yeah, are bad girls and good girls working on the abductors/adductors machine? I never heard of that. I've heard snow angel machine to anti-rape machine(girl with dark, but sharp sense of humor), but not the good girl/bad girl name. I like it.
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,136 Member
    ryanflebbe wrote: »
    Oh yeah, are bad girls and good girls working on the abductors/adductors machine? I never heard of that. I've heard snow angel machine to anti-rape machine(girl with dark, but sharp sense of humor), but not the good girl/bad girl name. I like it.

    There’s much of this thread I don’t understand. But what does this mean?
  • SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake
    SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake Posts: 268 Member
    edited February 2020
    cupcakesandproteinshakes wrote: »
    ryanflebbe wrote: »
    Oh yeah, are bad girls and good girls working on the abductors/adductors machine? I never heard of that. I've heard snow angel machine to anti-rape machine(girl with dark, but sharp sense of humor), but not the good girl/bad girl name. I like it.

    There’s much of this thread I don’t understand. But what does this mean?

    There are two machines that look identical, adductor and abductor machines, named after the motion away or toward the center of the body and the muscles needed for the motion. One works the glutes and the other works the inner thigh. One has resistance against the legs, so you push against it to close your legs.

    These are the good girls that work the inner thigh. The other pushes resistance against the knees and you press the pads away, opening your legs. Those are the bad girls that work the glutes.

  • SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake
    SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake Posts: 268 Member
    ryanflebbe wrote: »
    It sounds like you have a pretty good idea how your body responds and how to train it, at least a well informed plan. I don't know if I can offer much else within the limitations of a message board. Just watch those abs and if you lift hard, you'll probably keep most of your muscle. You seem to grow easily. So if you think you need to lose that much fat, go for it, see what you have, and re-access. Actually, I guess there is one trick you could use while you're cutting. It's taking any body part you think is just too big and muscular, and train it very lightly, or not at all. It's obviously easier to shrink a muscle in a calorie deficit. You are kind of doing that anyway though. Good luck.

    Thanks a lot for your advice. I'll focus on the vacuums for the abs for now, and as you said, reassess after I cut weight.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    What do you mean by "trouble areas" areas you want to retain muscle? Because unfortunately you can't spot reduce fat but you can help retain muscle in certain areas. Atrophy is a bit trickier if you are lifting since there are muscles that can be stimulated despite not being worked directly. Unless you do no exercise at all (which I don't think is your goal).

    Try it out then you can always reassess as you go. You can also adjust closer or at goal.
  • SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake
    SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake Posts: 268 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    What do you mean by "trouble areas" areas you want to retain muscle? Because unfortunately you can't spot reduce fat but you can help retain muscle in certain areas. Atrophy is a bit trickier if you are lifting since there are muscles that can be stimulated despite not being worked directly. Unless you do no exercise at all (which I don't think is your goal).

    Try it out then you can always reassess as you go. You can also adjust closer or at goal.

    Hey superstar!

    I notice that working the muscles under my trouble areas make them less troublesome. Not spot reducing fat, but firming and tightening the area.

    I'm trying to be patient. Having a plan helps a lot. Thanks Sardelsa!
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    SoHowLongIsThisGonnaTake wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    What do you mean by "trouble areas" areas you want to retain muscle? Because unfortunately you can't spot reduce fat but you can help retain muscle in certain areas. Atrophy is a bit trickier if you are lifting since there are muscles that can be stimulated despite not being worked directly. Unless you do no exercise at all (which I don't think is your goal).

    Try it out then you can always reassess as you go. You can also adjust closer or at goal.

    Hey superstar!

    I notice that working the muscles under my trouble areas make them less troublesome. Not spot reducing fat, but firming and tightening the area.

    I'm trying to be patient. Having a plan helps a lot. Thanks Sardelsa!

    Yea I would imagine if you want to look more firm in those areas you would be retaining the muscle there as you lose, just wanted to make sure. And despite not being able to spot reduce sometimes it feels productive to work those areas.. even if it's psychological it's still motivating sometimes!

    You look amazing btw, honestly whatever you are doing keep it up. I personally wouldn't want to lose any of the awesome muscle you have but I also understand we each have particular aesthetic goals, so you gotta do what you want.

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