Advice on Training for Fat Loss

Training Beginners
1

I’m looking to get down to 10% bf, then start packing the meat on. no sports, just wanna look good and be healthy.

general information:
weight 173 (started at 145)
height 5’10"
bf 16%
7 months weight training experience
21 years old
bench 1RM 205
squat 1RM 260
deadlift 1RM 340

program: 2 days high intensiveness; 2 days circuits

monday: anterior day (intensive)
1 set warm up quat (12 reps 135)
1 set squat (9 reps to failure+restpause+partials+one more beyond failure technique each progressing week)
1 set BB hack squat raised heels (9 reps failure+restpause+restpause+’ ‘)
2 sets leg extension (12 reps failure+restpause+restpause+drop 50% weight+’ ‘)
2 sets 45 incline db bench (8 reps+restpause+static hold for 10 sec+’ ‘)
1 set incline flys (10 reps+restpause+static hold+’ ')

tuesday: posterior day and shoulders (intensive)
2 set RDL (8 reps+restpause+restpause+’ ‘)
1 set SLDL (10 reps+restpause+restpause+’ ‘)
1 set seated leg curl (10 reps+restpause+restpause+50% reduction+’ ‘)
2 sets medium grip pullups overhand (9 reps+restpause+static hold+’ ‘)
1 set bb row (8 rep+restpause+restpause+’ ‘)
1 set steep incline hammer curls (10 restpause+static hold+’ ‘)
2 sets shoulder press (8 reps+restpause+’ ‘)
1 set lateral raise (10 rep+restpause+ static hold+’ ')

wednesday (rest)

thursday
A1 15 squats
A2 12 bb bench
3 circuits, 30 second rest intervals, progression measured by increasing reps
B1 squat machine 20 reps
B2 shoulder press machine 12 reps
20 minutes steady state cardio
2-3 circuits (depending on how much gas i have left), ’ ’

Friday
A1 14 rdl’s
A2 12 bb rows
3 circuits, ’ ’
B1 db 20 sldl
B2 15 assisted pullups(overhand)
2-3 circuits, ’ ’

Saturday
calves (undecided as to how to train them)
20 minutes hiit cardio on eliptical or treadmill

Sunday (rest)

supplements:
creatine-6 grams taken prior to working out
tribulus (precision engineered brand)-500 mg weekdays
fish oil 8-12 grams daily

postworkout meal:
1 scoop whey protein (25 grams protein), 4 oz yogurt, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 8 oz milk (all blended together into a liquid)

diet:
breakfast: omlet (3 whole eggs+cheese+vegetables+ham)

lunch: stirfry (3/4 cup cut up chicken, 1 1/2 cup of broccoli, cauliflower, and mushrooms) and iced black tea

snack: handful beef jerk+ handful pistachios

preworkout: creatine (150 calories mostly sugar)
postworkout: (stated above)

dinner: same as lunch

snack: pistachios

snack: half handful beef jerky pluse half cup of broccoli or cauliflower

I hope this is enough info.
thank you for anything you can tell me.
btw, how long do ya’ll think it’ll take to achieve my goal of 10% bf?

2

First the easy question:
“calves (undecided as to how to train them)”
Add them to your posterior day following your hamstring training.

To change from a bulking diet to a cutting diet usually you just cut back on the starch, however in your case, there’s none there now.

You need to get some green leafy stuff, preferably raw spinach. Actually get more variety in your veg. Men need tomatoes daily. Onions and/or garlic sould also be a daily veg. Mix up your nuts, rotate your pistachios with almonds, cashews, walnuts.

Really this is picking fly shit out of pepper. Just watch the total calories. Stay in calorie deficit most of the time and go into calorie surplus on intensive workout days.

Take the creatine and sugar after and/or during your workout, not before. You can have the yogurt and blueberries before. You want the insulin spike at the end of your workout.

Most of the improvements can be made in your training.

Cycle the HIT stuff with some higher volume moderate intensity training and with low volume heavy weights.

You may do better spliting your heavy training so they are separated by 2 or 3 days with your circuit trg in between.

Stu

3

if you are looking to do two high intensive days, and two circuits days, look into this program http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1499282
TESTOSTERONE NATION - Destroying Fat: War Room Strategies to Maximize Fat Loss

This is exactly that with HIIT built into the program. Worked well for me.

4

thx stuward for the advice. I’ll try out the creatine+sugar during the workout and also the calf work at the end of hamstring training.

As far as cycling with heavy lifting, i can’t do that for more than 2-3 weeks at a time, else my shoulders and knees start to bother me. I’ve never had great gains from it either. I have a small bone frame so i thought high intensiveness vs high intensity would be a better idea. i will try cycling it with high volume, thx for that idea

Oh, and pozzska, that’s actually where i drew the inspiration from, i just wanted to have the circuits closer to the weekend for the metabolic benefits since it will be difficult to control my diet on weekends (cafeteria provides only two meals of unhealthy sh@$ on weekends and no money to get real food) and i chose high intensiveness vs high intensity for the reason stated above.

thank you both for the advice. it’s greatly appreciated.

5

[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
I’m looking to get down to 10% bf, then start packing the meat on. no sports, just wanna look good and be healthy.

general information:
weight 173 (started at 145)
height 5’10"
bf 16%
7 months weight training experience
21 years old
bench 1RM 205
squat 1RM 260
deadlift 1RM 340

program: 2 days high intensiveness; 2 days circuits

monday: anterior day (intensive)
1 set warm up quat (12 reps 135)
1 set squat (9 reps to failure+restpause+partials+one more beyond failure technique each progressing week)
1 set BB hack squat raised heels (9 reps failure+restpause+restpause+’ ‘)
2 sets leg extension (12 reps failure+restpause+restpause+drop 50% weight+’ ‘)
2 sets 45 incline db bench (8 reps+restpause+static hold for 10 sec+’ ‘)
1 set incline flys (10 reps+restpause+static hold+’ ')

tuesday: posterior day and shoulders (intensive)
2 set RDL (8 reps+restpause+restpause+’ ‘)
1 set SLDL (10 reps+restpause+restpause+’ ‘)
1 set seated leg curl (10 reps+restpause+restpause+50% reduction+’ ‘)
2 sets medium grip pullups overhand (9 reps+restpause+static hold+’ ‘)
1 set bb row (8 rep+restpause+restpause+’ ‘)
1 set steep incline hammer curls (10 restpause+static hold+’ ‘)
2 sets shoulder press (8 reps+restpause+’ ‘)
1 set lateral raise (10 rep+restpause+ static hold+’ ')

wednesday (rest)

thursday
A1 15 squats
A2 12 bb bench
3 circuits, 30 second rest intervals, progression measured by increasing reps
B1 squat machine 20 reps
B2 shoulder press machine 12 reps
20 minutes steady state cardio
2-3 circuits (depending on how much gas i have left), ’ ’

Friday
A1 14 rdl’s
A2 12 bb rows
3 circuits, ’ ’
B1 db 20 sldl
B2 15 assisted pullups(overhand)
2-3 circuits, ’ ’

Saturday
calves (undecided as to how to train them)
20 minutes hiit cardio on eliptical or treadmill

Sunday (rest)

supplements:
creatine-6 grams taken prior to working out
tribulus (precision engineered brand)-500 mg weekdays
fish oil 8-12 grams daily

postworkout meal:
1 scoop whey protein (25 grams protein), 4 oz yogurt, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 8 oz milk (all blended together into a liquid)

diet:
breakfast: omlet (3 whole eggs+cheese+vegetables+ham)

lunch: stirfry (3/4 cup cut up chicken, 1 1/2 cup of broccoli, cauliflower, and mushrooms) and iced black tea

snack: handful beef jerk+ handful pistachios

preworkout: creatine (150 calories mostly sugar)
postworkout: (stated above)

dinner: same as lunch

snack: pistachios

snack: half handful beef jerky pluse half cup of broccoli or cauliflower

I hope this is enough info.
thank you for anything you can tell me.
btw, how long do ya’ll think it’ll take to achieve my goal of 10% bf?[/quote]

I would say you should through in some deadlifts some were in there. And depending on how you stand you could through in a fatburner

6

If your joints are bothering you you should take more fish oil, preferably in liquid form. I find I can even shut down tendinitis in myself and ever training partner and client I have worked with by large dosing fish oil (3 TBSP/day).

make sure that shit is small fish (anchovie, sardine and mackerel) only to avoid any toxicity probs.

Now I want to eat anchovies and I just got back from the store. shit.

-chris

7

Nearly two weeks in and doing f#*$ing great! I found out that i really don’t need the circuit training in there. I did it once and just forgot about it.

But i am still losing fat. The most important thing i’ve done i believe is the drastic change in diet and adding fish oil (before this post i ate whatever i wanted to when i wanted and never took fish oil in my life).

i just decided to do a typical split still using an intensive approach (as opposed to high intensity or high volume). I decided to quads on monday; chest, traps, calves tuesday; lats, shoulders, biceps thursday, posterior chain friday (dealifts, my favorite!). I feel very cofident in the routine i made so i’m not going to go into the minutia of it.

I expected to make very slow progress as far as bumping up intensiveness since i’m on a calorie deficit, but not at all! I give some credit to the creatine i started up again and the tribulus i’m taking.

I’m not doing any cardio now, but if the fat starts to not go away i’ll include it in the program. I’m of a small bone frame and somewhat of a hardgainer so i’m really not sure if i should include cardio this early in the game.

I would like to know if it would be a good idea to include cardio to make the fat dissappear faster or if it would just cause my muscle to catabolize away.

BTW, i had to do a complete change of routine cause the one i had listed above left me feeling way too fatigued and almost sickly feeling during that week. Not good at all for a college student studying for tests.

2 week progress:
I’m at 171 pounds and nearly lost an inch off my waist and can see my top two ab muscles now. 35 down to 34 1/4. Should i be making better progress, or would losing faster cause me to lose muscle too?

Thx for any help.