jen on your low carb days what your fat intake like?what macro split on low carb days?thanks
new here, hello…
Jen, you mention that you build and then cut… sounds like mini bulking and I’m really interested.
I need to put on upper body size for 2008 competitions, just came out of a few shows and that is the consensus. However, like most women I don’t want to be uncomfortable during the summer and in general and the idea of bulking/cutting in smaller time periods appeals to me, however I have no clue where to begin!
[quote]brunottfn wrote:
jen on your low carb days what your fat intake like?what macro split on low carb days?thanks[/quote]
I always eat about half my bbody weight in healthy fats everyday simply to maintain proper horomone function. For instance…If I eat 1800 calories (hypothetical numbers, becuase my calorie levels are daily fluctuating depending on my activity levels) it might look like this:
(My bw = 130 lbs)
1800 Calories
70 grams fat = 630 calories
75- 100 Carbs = 300 -400
200 Protein = 800
Now, sometimes I might exchange a little bit of protein for fat if that’s what I am in the mood for, but I never really try to go lower than about half bodyweight in fat, unless I am on SEVERE caloric restriction before a show - then it is simply impossible for me to do. 
I hope this helps!
Jen
[quote]RaeRae wrote:
new here, hello…
Jen, you mention that you build and then cut… sounds like mini bulking and I’m really interested.
I need to put on upper body size for 2008 competitions, just came out of a few shows and that is the consensus. However, like most women I don’t want to be uncomfortable during the summer and in general and the idea of bulking/cutting in smaller time periods appeals to me, however I have no clue where to begin! [/quote]
I suggest figuring out what you maintenance calores are, and eating slightly above that while supplementing with good anabolic signalers like creatine, BCAA, Se7en, etc…
Do that for 4 weeks and train nice and hard.
Then, take it easier, maybe some shorter workouts with lower reps, and increased cardio while dieting on bw x 10 or so. That should allow your body to make nice changes!
Jen
Jen:
As I’ve gotten oldER (NOT old! LOL!)…I’ve become more acutely aware of differences between older and younger trainees.
Question:
If you have two women in great health…
They have the same goals (put on mass/lose fat)…
All things are “equal” except one is 20yrs old and one is 40yrs old…
What do you see as the FUNDAMENTAL differences you would make in their nutrition and training? (Keeping in mind that everyone is individual).
Thanks, Jen!
Mufasa
[quote]Mufasa wrote:
Jen:
As I’ve gotten oldER (NOT old! LOL!)…I’ve become more acutely aware of differences between older and younger trainees.
Question:
If you have two women in great health…
They have the same goals (put on mass/lose fat)…
All things are “equal” except one is 20yrs old and one is 40yrs old…
What do you see as the FUNDAMENTAL differences you would make in their nutrition and training? (Keeping in mind that everyone is individual).
Thanks, Jen!
Mufasa [/quote]
So many variables…hmmmm.
In general as we age, our metabolisms have a natural tendency to slow down. The degree to which they slow can be either magnified or prevented if you will, based on your nutritional habits and activity levels.
Most of my old-ER 
Clients, i.e. ones that are 30 ish and over, all tend to be undereating for the most part and therefore their metabolisms have slowed more than they ought to have to compensate for lack of activity and nutrients. I OFTEN set them on more food, good macros and increased activity, whatever their bodies will allow from walking, to intense weights…
I try to raise their metabolisms a bit through nutrition and activity before I try and diet them hard.
Now, on the other hand, I have some clients who are what you called old-ER that are simply just eating too much. If they are active already, simply reducing calories drastically is enough to send the body into high mode fat loss. If they were inactive, I usually lower calories a bit and get them moving, to what level I have them 'Move" is largely dependent on what their bodies can handle, any medical conditions they may have, or other physical limitations.
If there are none, then great. I am not the type of trainer that will not give someone ALL that they can handle right off the bat. Whatever their bodies are up for, I give them the most challenging version of it.
There are a couple ladies I train that are over 50, and they LOVE things like increased flexibility and strength…fat loss comes as side effect and they are thrilled with that as well!!
I like to incorporate powerful movements into my training programs, and again very generally, if someone is over 40 and has not been extremely athletic or active, it is something they must work up to rather than a younger, athletic person who is able to pick those things up right away.
I must also qualify that I have a couple ladies over 40 and 50 that are enormously athletic and fit…they really don’t require any special considerations other than what will work for them. They are up for anything right off the bat, and those people tend to have elevated metabolisms anyway simply due to taking good care of them over the years.
Younger people tend of course (not in all cases - again everybody is different - tend to be ready for just about anything. They tend to be able to eat more for any given level of activity.
Now that’s not to say that I haven’t encountered a young’un whose metabolism isn’t WAY more messed up than one of my 40 year old athletes, due to eating disorders, undereating in general.
I feel like I could write a whole book about this, but I feel that it would take describing each and every one of my clients in detail, to illustrate how different everybody is
Thanks for asking, and if I went off on a tangent and you all have more “specific questions” - I’d be happy to answer!!
Jen
Hey Jen,
What are the 5 or so best training/nutrition books you’ve read in the past year? thanks
[quote]AceDeuce wrote:
Hey Jen,
What are the 5 or so best training/nutrition books you’ve read in the past year? thanks :)[/quote]
Can I list more than 5?
-
Arnolds Encyclopedia
-
Kelly Baggetts No Bull Muscle Building Plan
-
The Radical Diet by Mauro Dipasquale
-
Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle was a good read
-
Chad Waterbury’s Muscle Revolution is worth reading…lots of options in there
-
This was my last read. It was really very fun to read…and applicable, since I am a bodybuilder
Game Over Vol. 2- The Final Showtime Cut Diet You’ll Ever Need
Honestly I have read so may training and nutrition things that I could list all night long…
These are a few that I have read that recall quickly…I guess that means something stuck when I read them
Hope that helps…
Jen
Hi Jen,
My wife is entering her first figure comp in 6 weeks. Her upper body is looking pretty good and on track (back width is our focus at this point). Her lower body needs to catch up to the hardness of her upper body.
Cardio wise she’s doing Step Mill, High Incline Treadmill, or Hill Sprints for a solid intense hour 6 days a week.
Training for her lower body includes squats, lunges (long stride), step ups, RDLs, reverse hypers, leg curls, etc. Most are paired in supersets using 12-15 reps and very little rest.
Nutrition is:
Med Carbs - Upper Body Workouts
Med - Low - Lower Body
Low - Cardio Only Days
Any advice to help tighten her lower body? Thanks for you input Jen!
Jen:
great to see such awesome advice being laid out to people. this may sound odd and completely off topic of training…i see you list idaho in your avatar area; what part you from? or reside in now?
Nice to see another Idahoan here. I was born and raised in little 'ol Orofino and lived for a couple years in glorious Moscow.
Anyway, good luck with all you have going on.
Later
thanks so much, I’m going to try this
Jen, thanks for all the great info! With powder bcaa’s is it ok to have it sit in water for a few hrs? I usually mix 30g and shake and drink 1/3 pre/during and post workout. Could I mix it in with my whey for post shake?
[quote]Brood wrote:
Hi Jen,
My wife is entering her first figure comp in 6 weeks. Her upper body is looking pretty good and on track (back width is our focus at this point). Her lower body needs to catch up to the hardness of her upper body.
Cardio wise she’s doing Step Mill, High Incline Treadmill, or Hill Sprints for a solid intense hour 6 days a week.
Training for her lower body includes squats, lunges (long stride), step ups, RDLs, reverse hypers, leg curls, etc. Most are paired in supersets using 12-15 reps and very little rest.
Nutrition is:
Med Carbs - Upper Body Workouts
Med - Low - Lower Body
Low - Cardio Only Days
Any advice to help tighten her lower body? Thanks for you input Jen![/quote]
There are a couple fo really good lower body articles that have come out here lately, so between what she has, what’s in those and a few other things I can think of she should be on her way.
Here are some of my favorites:
Hamstrings:
Single leg DB Deadlifts, both bent leg and stiff leg. See them here:
For hamstrings stick to glute ham raises, and make sure she is deadlifting (traditional and SLDL too many benefits to mention, legs aside)
Quads:
Sissy Squats are EXCELLENT, and kneeling sissys have their own element of benefits as well.
1/4 rep leg extensions supersetted with bicycle squats
exercise 1: Quad extension, come up, 1/4 rep down, back up, then down all the way…ouch(oh -toes out on that one)
SS with exercise 2: Bicycle Squats -
Squat (with little over 1/2 the weight you would do a set of 10 with)
Down to paralle, up 1/4 rep, back down, and then up all the way…KILLER
Now having said all that, the legs are usually last to come up on MOST women. For me, they always look softer until the very end of a lean streak of dieting. Make sure she is at a deficit and cuts carbs in some fashion or another. Early morning cardio AFTER taking BCAA’s will also really help, but don’t do fasted cardio on nothing, at least take BCAA’s. At least that is what I do it I am going to do cardio in the early a.m.
Nutrition is mostly everything in uncovering legs…so she needs to be diligent in those things
Jen
[quote]BSims wrote:
Jen:
great to see such awesome advice being laid out to people. this may sound odd and completely off topic of training…i see you list idaho in your avatar area; what part you from? or reside in now?
Nice to see another Idahoan here. I was born and raised in little 'ol Orofino and lived for a couple years in glorious Moscow.
Anyway, good luck with all you have going on.
Later[/quote]
I live in Idaho Falls. I was born and raised in Portland, OR, and moved here when I was 12. Graduated High School here and things…Idaho has the most amazing recreating. Dirtbiking is AWESOME around here, among other things
Jen
[quote]Matt Burns wrote:
Jen, thanks for all the great info! With powder bcaa’s is it ok to have it sit in water for a few hrs? I usually mix 30g and shake and drink 1/3 pre/during and post workout. Could I mix it in with my whey for post shake? [/quote]
Honestly, I think that the sooner you consume the powdered BCAA the better, but it’s not going to hurt anythign if it has been sitting for a while. 3 hours I am not sure
I do the same thing when taking powdered BCAA. Right now I am taking Biotest’s BCAA tablets and LOVE them, but for my last contest, I mixed the powdered kind in with my shake along with creatine as well. Good thinking!
Jen
[quote]Jen Heath wrote:
I live in Idaho Falls. I was born and raised in Portland, OR, and moved here when I was 12. Graduated High School here and things…Idaho has the most amazing recreating. Dirtbiking is AWESOME around here, among other things
Jen[/quote]
No, no, that is not nearly interesting enough. Try this!
At 12 years old I was recruited by the NSA to infiltrate North Korea sleeper cells by being dropped from a C-130 at 10,000 feet on my honda 250. Thankfully, my favorite exercise, the one legged sldl came my life saver as it increased my head kicking ability tremendously.
With only rice, which has a horrible GI, stolen from the local patties, I ruck marched (with the motorcycle on my back)…
stuff like that.
[quote]coloradosteve wrote:
Jen Heath wrote:
I live in Idaho Falls. I was born and raised in Portland, OR, and moved here when I was 12. Graduated High School here and things…Idaho has the most amazing recreating. Dirtbiking is AWESOME around here, among other things
Jen
No, no, that is not nearly interesting enough. Try this!
At 12 years old I was recruited by the NSA to infiltrate North Korea sleeper cells by being dropped from a C-130 at 10,000 feet on my honda 250. Thankfully, my favorite exercise, the one legged sldl came my life saver as it increased my head kicking ability tremendously.
With only rice, which has a horrible GI, stolen from the local patties, I ruck marched (with the motorcycle on my back)…
stuff like that.
[/quote]
ROFL…I guess I will allow brief humorous hijacking
On with the training and nutrition shall we?
Oh…when I am contest prepping, I bring steamed broccoli and chicken in baggies with me when I am riding, while all the others are eating their sugar laden candy bars…
It’s official…
I am a psychotic, bodybuilding, dirtbiking, snowboarding, soccer mom…er something like that!
…and I LOVE IT!
I actually used to be in the military…top PR scores, surprise surprise, but I can’t say I’ve ever ruck marched with a motorcycle on my back :-0
BTW, I posted this in my thread in figure, but set a new PR on BB Bicep Curls…I did sets of 4 with the 70# bar. Whoo Hoo!!
Post contest is such a wonderful time to get STRONG!!!
Jen
mY husband is srating at 195 lbs roughly 17% bf, and he is on the velocity diet…AHHH!
He is however doing one solid meal per day, and man oh man is it giving him the jumpstart of a lifetime.
One of the major things with this diet is not having whole foods including veggies and that really trains your body not to want naughty, crappy foods.
However, for the most part, espcially with me around, Jeff has curbed his appetite for those things, so in order to combat hunger, I am alloiwing him to eat spinach, broccoli and asparagus on this thing.
He is eating 1800 on training days, 1500 on non-training days and it’s all shakes, flax, fish oils, and one whole meal of say fish or some other lean meat cooked in olive oil with veggies.
So, it’s the idea of the velocity diet, but very very modified.
He has already ost weiht, and so far it’s all fat. Muscle is staying put, but I am babysitting that one very closely with his supps.
He is taking HOT-ROX Extreme, Se7en, Carbolin 19, Flameout, GOBBS of Branch Chains (surprise surprise with me for a trainer huh?- I am a BCAA nut), ZMA, Multis, Creatine, and drinking Grow! Whey, Surge or Metabolic Drive Complete, and Low Carb Metabolic Drive.
I’ll post before and after pics when he is done with all of this craziness in 24 days or so.
Feel free to ask Q’s if you like and don’t forget to have fun all the time, okay?
Jen
Hey, Jen!
Was your husband involved in Sports and/or Bodybuilding in the past?
Mufasa
Hi Jenn, after hearing that your husband was using the V-diet as a jump start I went and read it, and boy am I on board. I feel like I have good habits but have been having and slipping on my food/drink urges way to often lately.
Could you keep us updated on how he’s responding?
Thanks for all your time, I learn a ton from your post’s and also your discipline is a great motivator!