Questions About Fat Loss

Training
822

[quote]Dark_Knight wrote:
Thibs,

On a fat loss phase, you’ve mentioned doing 1-2 weeks of increased calories. Two questions about that.

1- Should this be maintenance or above maintenance calories?
2- How does one gauge when to do this? When fat loss has slowed to a snail’s pace?

Thanks.[/quote]

I don’t really like your formulation… you make it sounds like I ‘‘always’’ include 1-2 weeks of increased caloric intake during dieting phases, this is not the case. It is merely ONE tool that I might use as needed.

To increase caloric intake for 1-2 weeks several conditions must be met:

  1. There has been no progress for 2-3 weeks in a row. And to be done properly this requires an adequate body composition measurement, you can’t go by bodyweight OR ‘‘how you look’’ only. You need an accurate body fat measure.

People are rarely objective about their fat loss. First of all, you want to get lean so bad that even a decent rate of improvement almost looks like you are stagnant. Plus, since you see yourself every day, you don’t really notice improvements after a few weeks.

  1. There is a decrease in lean body mass (again, you need a proper body comp assessement).

  2. Your strength must be down accross the board (not just one bad session, strength must be down on most exercises for 2 weeks or so).

  3. You must have been on the diet for at least 6 weeks. If conditions 1 to 3 are met but it hasn’t been 6 weeks yet, you REALLY screwed up… your plan is excessive or not adequate. But lucky for you, if it has been less than 6 weeks, you only need 2-3 days of higher calories to be able to start over your fat loss phase, and use a smarter approach.

823

CT,

Are there any exercises you like to use specifically for overweight older (50+) untrained women with no underlying health issues?

824

Thibs,

I’ve been using HOT-ROX EXTREME for about two months straight…

Are there any risks in extended use?

Should I lay off them for a bit?

Thanks

825

[quote]therajraj wrote:
CT,

Are there any exercises you like to use specifically for overweight older (50+) untrained women with no underlying health issues?

[/quote]

You honestly post the worst questions on this forum… well, the most boring ones at least.

The untrained, overweight older woman is really not my target clientele. I have trained a few of them in the past, but not that much.

Just getting them active an eating a solid diet is 90% of the work. Getting them on a basic program and having them stick to it is the key. Many coaches use exercises and methods that are WAY too advanced for these people. They already HATE exercising, and the coach puts them on something that they are barely able to do… a recipe for them to hate training even more and quit.

Let them experience some success before VERY GRADUALLY increasing the difficulty of the workload. With these people I wouldn’t make the workouts challenging before they completed 2 straight months of training 3x per week (at least). When they do that, they are ‘‘used to training’’ and you wont scare them away.

For example, I coached one woman who its your question 100%. When she started she could barely walk up a flight of stairs and even the easier execises like curls and machine movements were tough.

Now she is able to perform a circuit of deadlift + power clean and push press + lat pulldown + walking up and down a flight of stairs 5 times.

She uses up to 195lbs for 10 reps on the deadlift too.

But it took her about a year to build up to that point. The first three months were simply getting her to be active.

826

[quote]MAF14 wrote:
Thibs,

I’ve been using HOT-ROX EXTREME for about two months straight…

Are there any risks in extended use?

Should I lay off them for a bit?

Thanks[/quote]

I recommend never staying ‘‘on’’ a at burner stimulant for more than 2 weeks in a row.

827

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:
CT,

Are there any exercises you like to use specifically for overweight older (50+) untrained women with no underlying health issues?

[/quote]

You honestly post the worst questions on this forum… well, the most boring ones at least.

The untrained, overweight older woman is really not my target clientele. I have trained a few of them in the past, but not that much.

Just getting them active an eating a solid diet is 90% of the work. Getting them on a basic program and having them stick to it is the key. Many coaches use exercises and methods that are WAY too advanced for these people. They already HATE exercising, and the coach puts them on something that they are barely able to do… a recipe for them to hate training even more and quit.

Let them experience some success before VERY GRADUALLY increasing the difficulty of the workload. With these people I wouldn’t make the workouts challenging before they completed 2 straight months of training 3x per week (at least). When they do that, they are ‘‘used to training’’ and you wont scare them away.

For example, I coached one woman who its your question 100%. When she started she could barely walk up a flight of stairs and even the easier execises like curls and machine movements were tough.

Now she is able to perform a circuit of deadlift + power clean and push press + lat pulldown + walking up and down a flight of stairs 5 times.

She uses up to 195lbs for 10 reps on the deadlift too.

But it took her about a year to build up to that point. The first three months were simply getting her to be active.[/quote]

Haha yeah training older overweight women isn’t the most exciting topic in the world. My aunt has asked me to help her get into shape and she’s a life long sedentary vegetarian woman. Banana flavour MD is one of the few protein drinks she’s willing to drink but I have her drinking 2 scoops 3x/day.

I have her doing very basic stuff… BW box-squats, step ups, light curling/pressing/rowing. she’s been exercising 3x a week for 3 months now. I’ll add another training day see how it goes.

828

Maf14–

Why would you be taking HOT-ROX for two months consistently?
**If you’re using them partly for energy…try Spike…it provide a nice, smooth energy kick, without the jitters…love that stuff.

Where are you current body fat levels?

I assume fat loss is your main goal. Is your diet and training efforts supporting this?

In my opinion, “fat burners” are only optimal for a short period of time, and only need to be used once you BF levels are low enough to “need” them.

I’ve never used them (I don’t react well), and I’ve been able to get to mid-low single digits body fat levels, AND I’m a former fatty.

I’d get off those and kick up your training and diet efforts. Then, when you’re body fat loss stalls for an extended period of time, and you’ve lost enough body fat, you could go back on them. If you stay on them, they’ll lose their “effectiveness.”

Just my two cents on my experience (or lack of) with them.

829

[quote]synergy93 wrote:
Maf14–

Why would you be taking HOT-ROX for two months consistently?
**If you’re using them partly for energy…try Spike…it provide a nice, smooth energy kick, without the jitters…love that stuff.

Where are you current body fat levels?

I assume fat loss is your main goal. Is your diet and training efforts supporting this?

In my opinion, “fat burners” are only optimal for a short period of time, and only need to be used once you BF levels are low enough to “need” them.

I’ve never used them (I don’t react well), and I’ve been able to get to mid-low single digits body fat levels, AND I’m a former fatty.

I’d get off those and kick up your training and diet efforts. Then, when you’re body fat loss stalls for an extended period of time, and you’ve lost enough body fat, you could go back on them. If you stay on them, they’ll lose their “effectiveness.”

Just my two cents on my experience (or lack of) with them.

[/quote]

Well i was cutting on my own for a while and my diet was complete shit (i lived in the dorms at college and the dining halls were horrible) so i pretty much needed them just to keep me going. Also I was going on 2 months of low carbs.

I’m not sure where my body fat is at… anywhere from 15-20 percent would be my guess.

My diet and training are good now. I hired Shelby Starnes for 12 weeks and even though i’m dieting now that i have quality food sources i’m still gaining strength (although im only two weeks in) on all my main lifts.

AHHA! i’m a former fatty myself. cheers to that. i’ve never truely been lean though. im hoping i will be by the time these 12 weeks are up though…

EDIT: i just realized i never answered your question… i’m using them now because shelby recommended me to be on fat burners. although i never mentioned to him i was using them for a while

830

[quote]synergy93 wrote:
I’d get off those and kick up your training and diet efforts. Then, when you’re body fat loss stalls for an extended period of time, and you’ve lost enough body fat, you could go back on them. If you stay on them, they’ll lose their “effectiveness.”
[/quote]
i agree with this. there is no magic pill you can take to negate the effects of a bad diet. its been said here before, “you can not out train a bad diet.” if your diet is not in check, no amount of OTC fat burner pills will make it all better.

831

[quote]BARDUKE wrote:

[quote]synergy93 wrote:
I’d get off those and kick up your training and diet efforts. Then, when you’re body fat loss stalls for an extended period of time, and you’ve lost enough body fat, you could go back on them. If you stay on them, they’ll lose their “effectiveness.”
[/quote]
i agree with this. there is no magic pill you can take to negate the effects of a bad diet. its been said here before, “you can not out train a bad diet.” if your diet is not in check, no amount of OTC fat burner pills will make it all better.[/quote]

Agreed 100%. From my experience with tons of clients. Those who start off their ‘‘diet’’ or fat loss phase using fat burners, never succeed. Because they (oftentimes subconsciously) think that the pill will do the job and as a result they are more permissive with their diet.

Always start with as little as possible to make the required progress. As progress stalls, throw in other ways of kicking up your fat loss efforts.

On a side note, it reminds me of one of my friends who used to own a supplements store. He got fed up of young kids asking him what to take to ‘‘gain a lot of size but get ripped at the same time’’… you know what he did? Sold them a Weight gain powder with tons of calories and a fat burner.

After a while he even sold it as a ‘‘special package’’!

832

[quote]BARDUKE wrote:

[quote]synergy93 wrote:
I’d get off those and kick up your training and diet efforts. Then, when you’re body fat loss stalls for an extended period of time, and you’ve lost enough body fat, you could go back on them. If you stay on them, they’ll lose their “effectiveness.”
[/quote]
i agree with this. there is no magic pill you can take to negate the effects of a bad diet. its been said here before, “you can not out train a bad diet.” if your diet is not in check, no amount of OTC fat burner pills will make it all better.[/quote]

As I mentionned in my previous post, I agree with your comment about the fat burners. But not with your whole post. I have seen quite a few clients ‘‘out train a bad diet’’.

A female client of mine has the worst dietary habits in the history of mankind. She has, let’s just say, a ‘‘sweet mouth’’ not just a sweet tooth! It’s not rare for her to eat 3000 calories of junk in one sitting, and add more stuff on top of that.

Anyway, she is one of the hardest trainee I have seen. She does ‘‘strongman’’ training twice a week, heavy lifting twice a week (upper and lower), power circuit once a week and rehab-posture training once a week.

She also does 1 to 2 hours of intense running per day (against my initial recommendation, but I gave up after 6 months).

Over the past 4 weeks she dropped 2% body fat and gained 3kg of lean body mass.

While we both agree that the fat loss results would have been a lot more impressive if she had followed a good diet, she is indeed proof that it is POSSIBLE to out train a bad diet.

Is it healthy (physically and psychologically)? Probably not, but it is possible.

The same could be said with many olympic athletes. They often have a very bad diet (Mike Phelps 3x a day McDo diet for example) but can make up for it by burning 10 000kcals + per day. In fact some athletes NEED to eat junk otherwise they can’t consume enough calories for their sport (e.g. Tour de France cyclists).

833


Dunno if this will post, pretty big picture.

834

4000×3000 2.05 MB

Another one

835

alright I ll get out the prowler and the cheesecake…hahaha jk

836

4000×3000 2.42 MB

last one

837

[quote]lllDUTCHlll wrote:
alright I ll get out the prowler and the cheesecake…hahaha jk[/quote]

Well… works for Wendler!

838

[quote]BARDUKE wrote:

[quote]synergy93 wrote:
I’d get off those and kick up your training and diet efforts. Then, when you’re body fat loss stalls for an extended period of time, and you’ve lost enough body fat, you could go back on them. If you stay on them, they’ll lose their “effectiveness.”
[/quote]
i agree with this. there is no magic pill you can take to negate the effects of a bad diet. its been said here before, “you can not out train a bad diet.” if your diet is not in check, no amount of OTC fat burner pills will make it all better.[/quote]

i completely agree. i wasnt using any stimulants at all in the beginning. but i had to eat on a college campus thought it would be easiest to go low(no) carb for the sake of avoiding cravings.
eventually i cut calories too low and every step of every day was a battle - i know that was stupid but i was too fat and didnt lose any LBM anyway. then when i started using HOT-ROX the difference was like night and day. i had energy, motivation and i just felt so much better. i tried weening myself off them but then i finals began creeping up and i needed them to study and all that…

i am taking a break from them now. wont reintroduce for two weeks at the very least

839

alright! i guess i was wrong. it makes sense that when working hard enough, there would be a need/excuse to take in extra calories without any negative ramifications.

but for the general american population, making an excuse to eat half a dozen doughnuts bc your blood glucose was depleted from 10 minutes on the recumbant bike on level 4 resistance is not a justified response.

:slight_smile:

840

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]lllDUTCHlll wrote:
alright I ll get out the prowler and the cheesecake…hahaha jk[/quote]

Well… works for Wendler![/quote]

Hahahahaha thats classic…

841

Hey coach,
I’ve been on bulking for the past 8 weeks with very good results. Ive gained some fat though (around 5lbs) , but i guess that’s expectable. Im thinking of a 4-5 weeks diet to loose some fat with your Destroying fat program - which worked perfectly for me in the past -.

A lot of things happened since you revealed the light to all of us and I was wondering how would you approach on heavy lifting days in the program.
Would you recommend to drop the reps to 3-5 and ramp up with Perfect reps? Like the I bodybuilder program.
I know this might have been answered before but I just cant see it with the search tool.
Thanks a lot!