Beelz
2012-08-27, 20:51
Ok, so here's a little bonus for you today. It's from an email exchange between me and a client of mine back in the days, and it's part of my response to a casual statement he made of "feeling lazy"/"feel like I'm not dieting" and some question of whether it was ok to add this or that. Felt relevant to the OP's question.
I've made some small changes at the end, took one part out, but other than that it's pretty much what I wrote. I bring up some stuff that may not seem so relevant in this context, but I figured it'd still be a half-decent read.
I got tons of this stuff, coach/client exchanges that I saved because they were interesting/useful. Hell, maybe they'd make good blog posts. Who'd be interested in that?
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For fat loss there is *never* any benefit to weight train more than 3x/week. To the contrary in fact. This is a Hard Rule of mine. That means it's an absolute statement, true for anyone regardless of weight training experience.
Seeing that I've helped several natural physique competitors to top 3 or gold with 3x/week low volume workouts, with strength gains all the way up 'till 2 weeks, you can bet your balls I know what I'm talking about here.
In contest prep, doing too much is the single greatest and most common mistake by everyone from first-timers to pros. Period. That's why you see all these roided up bros still getting weak as shit and dropping muscle on their prep, in spite of the stuff they're taking.
Muscle loss on roids seems like a feat in itself, but to me it's hardly surprising when you combine a zero-carb low-calorie diet, 2 hrs+ on the treadmill each morning & high-volume weights in the evening, overall dumbassery, single digit bf %, and a buttload of T3 (the last one's almost the best part, since T3 *selectively* increases LBM loss under these circumstances, but I guess their drug gurus don't care about phony "studies").
The "extra time" fallacy is unfortunately a very common one; "I got all this free time now, so what do you guys think about this 6x/week-twice-daily-routine?" Been there, done that.
It falls into the same category of superstitions people have about what it takes to be ripped and muscular. Can't count the times people have asked me whether I work out 5-6x/week ("I bet you work out like almost every day and take protein, amirite?"), as if that was a given.
On a similar note, can't count the times @pecman45637 or @paleopete837 have asked me how much cardio I do to stay lean (none) or what type they should do to get lean.
The point is this: dare to be fucking lazy with your training and diet, and don't fall into trap of thinking that getting a great physique is some huge and time consuming commitment. What it's all about is
A) Consistency. Lao Tzu said 'the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long', but when it comes to this game of strength and aesthetics, twice as strong burns a month or two tops. Maybe 12 weeks if you're stepping on stage.
Then comes the inevitable backlash; the binge, the injury, the 20 lbs off your bench due to your crazy zero-carb diet (...and the week-long 'refeed' (AKA binge) you rationalized afterwards, and repeat).
B) Do the work when it counts and put your heart into it. People find it hard to believe I got to where I'm at on an average of 2-3 days in the gym. But still to this day, I've *never* seen anyone train harder than me. Hand on heart, no one. I'm not really lazy, I'm smart and time-efficient, and so should you be.
C) Got "extra time"? Spend that on something sensible or fun. Not more cardio/weights. Read books, expand your mind. Play some Shadow Era. Watch Breaking Bad. Get drunk and talk shit with your buddies all night.
Diet and training done right is easy. Patience is hard. You can have a perfect setup and be smart as hell about your diet and training and then screw it all up on some whim, some wild idea you get out of pure boredom, to speed things up.
That's why it's important to have interests beyond weights and diet. Something to occupy your mind and take your thoughts of it all.
Things, activities, people to care about, they turn down the volume. Taking care of your physique - by exercise, by diet - should be a tune in the instrumental ensemble playing the grand symphony of life. It enrichens the music, but it blends in. It doesn't make or break the piece.
Some people don't see it that way and play it like a lightning fast guitar riff solo in a trash metal band. And you can't play that very long unless you're Dimebag Darrell (RIP). Or if you're in the small minority who performs for a living, an elite athlete, with motivation and talent to sustain your lifestyle, and a constitution solid enough to make your career long lasting.
But then again, when all's said and done, depression, suicide rate and drug problems seem all too common among ex-athletes once their careers are over and their bodys are worn out. Point being, again, that there is a cap to how much time, effort, and mental energy you should spend on all of this. Put it elsewhere.
Forget about 4-week crash diets, glycogen depletion bullshit, HIIT or any fancy shit you *think* you need - but really is just fancy shit you start doing because you spend too much time thinking/reading about training/nutrition (and we all know that shit gets oh so interesting when you're dieting...).
Forget about Rocky training his ass off before facing Ivan Drago, running around in the snow with half a tree on his shoulders, hitting the weights, drinking raw eggs, being hardcore as fuck, and getting huge and ripped at the same time. You ain't him and that ain't happening to you, no matter how much "extra time" you got.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=276928212415588&id=116211138487297&comment_id=1294961&offset=0&total_comments=18
I've made some small changes at the end, took one part out, but other than that it's pretty much what I wrote. I bring up some stuff that may not seem so relevant in this context, but I figured it'd still be a half-decent read.
I got tons of this stuff, coach/client exchanges that I saved because they were interesting/useful. Hell, maybe they'd make good blog posts. Who'd be interested in that?
------
For fat loss there is *never* any benefit to weight train more than 3x/week. To the contrary in fact. This is a Hard Rule of mine. That means it's an absolute statement, true for anyone regardless of weight training experience.
Seeing that I've helped several natural physique competitors to top 3 or gold with 3x/week low volume workouts, with strength gains all the way up 'till 2 weeks, you can bet your balls I know what I'm talking about here.
In contest prep, doing too much is the single greatest and most common mistake by everyone from first-timers to pros. Period. That's why you see all these roided up bros still getting weak as shit and dropping muscle on their prep, in spite of the stuff they're taking.
Muscle loss on roids seems like a feat in itself, but to me it's hardly surprising when you combine a zero-carb low-calorie diet, 2 hrs+ on the treadmill each morning & high-volume weights in the evening, overall dumbassery, single digit bf %, and a buttload of T3 (the last one's almost the best part, since T3 *selectively* increases LBM loss under these circumstances, but I guess their drug gurus don't care about phony "studies").
The "extra time" fallacy is unfortunately a very common one; "I got all this free time now, so what do you guys think about this 6x/week-twice-daily-routine?" Been there, done that.
It falls into the same category of superstitions people have about what it takes to be ripped and muscular. Can't count the times people have asked me whether I work out 5-6x/week ("I bet you work out like almost every day and take protein, amirite?"), as if that was a given.
On a similar note, can't count the times @pecman45637 or @paleopete837 have asked me how much cardio I do to stay lean (none) or what type they should do to get lean.
The point is this: dare to be fucking lazy with your training and diet, and don't fall into trap of thinking that getting a great physique is some huge and time consuming commitment. What it's all about is
A) Consistency. Lao Tzu said 'the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long', but when it comes to this game of strength and aesthetics, twice as strong burns a month or two tops. Maybe 12 weeks if you're stepping on stage.
Then comes the inevitable backlash; the binge, the injury, the 20 lbs off your bench due to your crazy zero-carb diet (...and the week-long 'refeed' (AKA binge) you rationalized afterwards, and repeat).
B) Do the work when it counts and put your heart into it. People find it hard to believe I got to where I'm at on an average of 2-3 days in the gym. But still to this day, I've *never* seen anyone train harder than me. Hand on heart, no one. I'm not really lazy, I'm smart and time-efficient, and so should you be.
C) Got "extra time"? Spend that on something sensible or fun. Not more cardio/weights. Read books, expand your mind. Play some Shadow Era. Watch Breaking Bad. Get drunk and talk shit with your buddies all night.
Diet and training done right is easy. Patience is hard. You can have a perfect setup and be smart as hell about your diet and training and then screw it all up on some whim, some wild idea you get out of pure boredom, to speed things up.
That's why it's important to have interests beyond weights and diet. Something to occupy your mind and take your thoughts of it all.
Things, activities, people to care about, they turn down the volume. Taking care of your physique - by exercise, by diet - should be a tune in the instrumental ensemble playing the grand symphony of life. It enrichens the music, but it blends in. It doesn't make or break the piece.
Some people don't see it that way and play it like a lightning fast guitar riff solo in a trash metal band. And you can't play that very long unless you're Dimebag Darrell (RIP). Or if you're in the small minority who performs for a living, an elite athlete, with motivation and talent to sustain your lifestyle, and a constitution solid enough to make your career long lasting.
But then again, when all's said and done, depression, suicide rate and drug problems seem all too common among ex-athletes once their careers are over and their bodys are worn out. Point being, again, that there is a cap to how much time, effort, and mental energy you should spend on all of this. Put it elsewhere.
Forget about 4-week crash diets, glycogen depletion bullshit, HIIT or any fancy shit you *think* you need - but really is just fancy shit you start doing because you spend too much time thinking/reading about training/nutrition (and we all know that shit gets oh so interesting when you're dieting...).
Forget about Rocky training his ass off before facing Ivan Drago, running around in the snow with half a tree on his shoulders, hitting the weights, drinking raw eggs, being hardcore as fuck, and getting huge and ripped at the same time. You ain't him and that ain't happening to you, no matter how much "extra time" you got.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=276928212415588&id=116211138487297&comment_id=1294961&offset=0&total_comments=18