What do you do when a person has a “skinny-fat” bodytype?
[quote]AMIRisSQUAT wrote:
Arent you going to be on the progression pattern discussion board today coach???
Amir
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
As always, I’ll use this same thread to answer today’s questions.
[/quote]
Already sent a reply.
[quote]leon79 wrote:
Is volume the basic difference between bulking and cutting routines, or are there more factors to take into account when working with a caloric deficit?
If someone is trying to lose fat while, of course, retaining muscle, and the volume of their workouts are already low, would this person still need a back-off week?[/quote]
The most important thing when dieting (and I was just talking to Christiane about this as she is 4 weeks out of the Canadian champs and “muscle-loss fear” has started) is to try by all means to maintain or even gain strength.
Basically, when dieting down your body doesn’t want to keep its muscles. It’s a metabolically costly tissue and when caloric restriction occurs, it’s one of the first thing to go (especially if the caloric reduction is too drastic). That’s why the AVERAGE JOE/JANE who goes on a diet without performing weight training only end up as “a smaller version of themselves”. The average dieter will loose 50% fat and 50% lean mass.
To hold on to your mass you MUST give your body a reason to keep it. Volume is NOT the stimulus the body needs for it.
Sure, if you are consuming a caloric SURPLUS increased training volume can lead to more gains (up to a point). But when you are dieting down your body has a limited capacity to tolerate stress and build muscle tissue, not to mention limited energy reserves. So adding volume while dieting down isn’t such a great idea.
Furthermore, if you reduce the load (to perform more reps for example) you actually signal your body that it’s okay to loose muscle!
So lifting heavy is the most important thing to do while dieting. I’m not necessarily talking about performing 1-3 reps per set. But I would stay away from anything higher than 8 during dieting.
As for the volume, at first try to maintain it. If your strength goes down you may need to reduce volume or frequency. But the longer you can maintain your training volume while maintaining or gaining strength, the better you’ll do.
And this is precisely why I am hopelessly in love with you, kind sir.
Amir
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
AMIRisSQUAT wrote:
Arent you going to be on the progression pattern discussion board today coach???
Amir
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
As always, I’ll use this same thread to answer today’s questions.
Already sent a reply.[/quote]
[quote]RedEye wrote:
Dear CT,
What Poliquin “element” are you ? I am curious.[/quote]
No idea.
[quote]Ceaze wrote:
What do you do when a person has a “skinny-fat” bodytype?[/quote]
Work on building as much muscle mass as possible while trying to minimize fat gain. But a small fat gain is acceptable for these individuals as it’s much easier to loose 10lbs of fat than gain 10lbs of muscle.
Furthermore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll use. So if you gain muscle it will become easier to diet down.
However stay away from junk food ESPECIALLY anything with sugar. Eat a ton of food, but only fresh, natural food. Some type of meat, poultry or fish at least 4 times per day.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
As for the volume, at first try to maintain it. If your strength goes down you may need to reduce volume or frequency. But the longer you can maintain your training volume while maintaining or gaining strength, the better you’ll do.[/quote]
Excellent tip! I’m leaning out and have only decreased volume minimally. My caloric deficit is relatively minimal. I have gained strength on a few lifts and maintained it on the rest. I was wondering if I was making a mistake by not decreasing volume more. Now I want unless my strength drops. Thanks!
Coach,
Bought your e-books about a month ago and have made tremendous progress in some of my lifts using a combination of some of your tips. My bench went from 315 lbs x 4 reps to 8 reps for example and my military press is now 205 lbs x 5 reps super strict (up from 2 reps kinda bad form). Other lifts have gone up a lot as well and I am ready to now add strenght to my arms, where I am traditionally very weak.
To increase my Bicep strength I wanted to do the following:
Max effort day on Monday:
Barbell Curls 5 sets of 5/4/3/2/1 reps and perhaps 1-2 more reps emphasizing the negative.
Power Clean up and Reverse Curls down Hybrid exercises same reps and sets.
On Thursday I wanted to do a Dynamic effort day and take 55% of my max and do 5 sets of 5 reps as fast as possible on both these exercises.
For Triceps I want to do Close grip Bench Presses and Rack Lockouts on each day with same rep and set schemes.
Am I on the right track? If not could you let me know how to tweak it?
Thanks a bunch for all the great info,
Marqaos
Do you use a particular formula/method for setting calorie intake for you and your clients? I know the amount needs to be constantly adjusted based on goals and how he/she is responding. But what about getting started w/ a set calorie intake?
Thank you,
Danny
You and CW (as well as others)have written that a beginner should stick with relatively high reps and CW recently stated that he recommends a biginner stick with higher reps for the first year of training (I think that’s what he said anyways). I have only been lifting for about 8-10 months and I have been lifting heavy (in the 3-5 rep range) for a majority of that time (approx. 6 months). Is this recommendation purely for injury prevention or have I hindered my progress aside from possible injury? Would you recommend I start using higher reps exclusively for a period of time?
[quote]Dboy wrote:
Do you use a particular formula/method for setting calorie intake for you and your clients? I know the amount needs to be constantly adjusted based on goals and how he/she is responding. But what about getting started w/ a set calorie intake?
Thank you,
Danny[/quote]
I was kinda wondering this too. Looking at DaFreak I was wondering how many calories you had a guy like that taking in. I’m sure you have them on a cycle of different amounts for lifting and non-lifting days. But I second this question, whats the average daily caloric intake and stats for a client? *If you don’t mind revealing 
*
Hey CT,
Which of your programs would you suggest for a beginner looking to gain muscle/strength? and what to follow?
[quote]Dboy wrote:
Do you use a particular formula/method for setting calorie intake for you and your clients? I know the amount needs to be constantly adjusted based on goals and how he/she is responding. But what about getting started w/ a set calorie intake?
Thank you,
Danny[/quote]
Man, this is so variable!!! This is why I feel more comfortable providing nutritional services when I can actually see or talk to the individual on a daily basis.
Normally I ask for a weekly report of what he’s eating, count calories and adjust the intake depending on the goal.
For gaining size I like to start at around 20kcals per pound of LEAN BODY MASS and adjust it on a weekly basis if needs be.
You will probably die of a slow painfull death!!!
The reasons why we recommend higher reps (I recommend 8-12) are:
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Beginners do not need heavy weights to grow at first. Lifting 60-70% of their maximum is just as effective as using more weight. Obviously the lifter should try to add weight. Basically he should try to get stronger in the 8-12 range.
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There is the injury preventing aspect as you mentionned.
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Higher reps (up to 12, but seldom more than that) an result in more muscle growth and will strenghten the structures. Basically building the foundation on which heavier work can be done.
That having been said if you’ve not injured yourself, what you did will not hinder your progress. Anyway, if your goal is not to compete and you just want to be muscular and strong, you should alternate between periods of low reps (1-5), medium reps (6-8) and higher reps (8-12), or even mix them up within the same training phase.
[quote]LBRTRN wrote:
You and CW (as well as others)have written that a beginner should stick with relatively high reps and CW recently stated that he recommends a biginner stick with higher reps for the first year of training (I think that’s what he said anyways). I have only been lifting for about 8-10 months and I have been lifting heavy (in the 3-5 rep range) for a majority of that time (approx. 6 months). Is this recommendation purely for injury prevention or have I hindered my progress aside from possible injury? Would you recommend I start using higher reps exclusively for a period of time? [/quote]
Hey CT,
You’re the man, I’ve got a question. During a long track season(winter and spring) my squat and clean maxes went way down. Any tricks on keeping these lifts high without taxing your nervous system too hard? I was thinking of hitting the gym 1x per week and doing just a squat and clean variation with a set/rep combo of something like 3 x 3, 2 x 5, or 5 x 2. Too much lifting hurts my track performance.
[quote]MiniTank wrote:
Hey CT,
Which of your programs would you suggest for a beginner looking to gain muscle/strength? and what to follow?[/quote]
None of the programs I have written are well-suited for beginners. They target at least the intermediate trainee.
Look up my article called “Locked and loaded” it will greatly help you design a proper program until I come up with a beginner article.
When bulking he was taking between 3800 and 4500kcals/day depending on the day.
Now in his first diet phase he is between 3200 and 3500. Each 4th week we’ll reduce his intake be 80kcals/day.
[quote]retailboy wrote:
Dboy wrote:
Do you use a particular formula/method for setting calorie intake for you and your clients? I know the amount needs to be constantly adjusted based on goals and how he/she is responding. But what about getting started w/ a set calorie intake?
Thank you,
Danny
I was kinda wondering this too. Looking at DaFreak I was wondering how many calories you had a guy like that taking in. I’m sure you have them on a cycle of different amounts for lifting and non-lifting days. But I second this question, whats the average daily caloric intake and stats for a client? *If you don’t mind revealing *[/quote]
I only WISH 20kcal per pound of lean mass could cause me to gain weight. Thats only 2850 calories or something like that, considering i only weigh 154 and i’m like 8% body fat. I have to eat like 4000 calories a day to gain weight, thats like 28kcal per pound of lean mass. The problem is not me actually eating that much food, i can do it. Its just finding time to eat that much food as i have 2 jobs and am taking a summer class right now. Lots of big turkey sandwiches and walnuts for some of my meals.
CT-
I have been doing JB’s no-nonsense nutrition for a bit over 6 months now and seem to be a little stagnant with both muscle gain and fat loss. Initially, it was great and I was both gaining muscle and losing fat. I’m hovering around 8-9% bodyfat now. I have doubled my servings of Surge, but what else would you recommend? I am not a FFB so to speak, but I do think that I gain fat fairly easily if I don’t watch the carbs— or maybe this is just my misconception. I’m assuming you are fairly familiar with JBs program but besides Surge, the carbs I get are from greens, veggies and fruits-- there are no starchy carbs or oats/bread to speak of, Would you say this is halting my progress? Should I look into a carb overfeed or something of that nature? Thanks.
As I mentionned … every is so individual!!!
But in regard to eating, I feel your pain… For the first time in 4 years I have decided to bulk up and gain much size. As a former fat body this was a difficult thing to accept as I’ve been “on a diet” for almost 3 years straight!
It took me everything to finally accept to bulk … and now I hardly have the time to do it!!! It’s almost frustrating.
[quote]binford wrote:
I only WISH 20kcal per pound of lean mass could cause me to gain weight. Thats only 2850 calories or something like that, considering i only weigh 154 and i’m like 8% body fat. I have to eat like 4000 calories a day to gain weight, thats like 28kcal per pound of lean mass. The problem is not me actually eating that much food, i can do it. Its just finding time to eat that much food as i have 2 jobs and am taking a summer class right now. Lots of big turkey sandwiches and walnuts for some of my meals.[/quote]