Lose fat and Gain Muscle at the Same Time!

This is the goal of damn near every 175lb guy in the gym. I should know I was one of them for a long time. All you have to do is flip through a fitness magazine and you will see these promises of "gain 20lbs of muscle while losing fat." This claim is ridiculous sans Trenbolone.

Reality
Once I came to the realization that 200lbs on a 6 foot 2 guy is just not big I decided to just suck it up and put on weight. This taught me an important lesson, Have 1 Goal! Before I always wanted to see at least an ab or 2 when I was "Bulking." What would happen is that I would gain no weight and stare at the mirror making up places where I thought extra muscle had grown. So this time I ditched the mirror and told myself I was going to get fat! 65 pounds and a year and a half later I actually fill out a T-shirt and only have a bit of a gut. Why strategy #1 failed is pretty basic. In order to gain you need a calorie surplus. Just like to lose you need a calorie deficit. So what made me think I could do both at once?

Over-thinking
Every beginner has a theory about how to work out through what they think will make sense. In my case I thought just eating more of good foods would help me gain a lot while being lean. Reality is you cant do both well. I gained a little and didn't put on much fat. But nothing noticeable. Bottom line is I wanted 2 opposite goals and that never turns out good.

What to do
If you are a skinny bastard (160-190 depending on height) it is in your best interest to gain some weight first. Put on a good 40-50lbs...yes I said 40-50. Do it in the winter where you will not be walking around shirtless (God made winter for us to bulk). Then come spring time drop the excess body fat. Out of 40lbs if you put on a solid 15-20lbs of muscle you will be noticeably bigger when you cut down. This will trump the 5-10lbs you may put on while trying to stay lean. And if you are a fat bastard work on getting lean first. Keep your protein high to keep muscle that you have. Then hit a bulk after you have leaned down to the point where nothing hangs over your belt.

And if your a guy and don't wanna look "jacked" I cant help you. All I can say is enjoy your skinny jeans and Hipster music and stay out of the gym.  

Athletic Training Failures and Fixes

Training Athletes is awesome, they rarely complain and are driven in ways most people can not understand. However over the years many people train athletes the wrong way. I was a pitcher back in the day at a semi high level. My weight training consisted of squatting and leg work. Bench pressing and overhead pressing was a sin in most trainers books for pitchers. Also they made me run long distance for my conditioning which is also all wrong. For purposes of this blog I will use baseball as an example but explain how to train for other sports.

Energy Systems
When you train an athlete you need to train them to excel in the energy system they use. Baseball is an explosive sport. Throwing a ball takes less than a second. Swinging a bat takes less than a second. So basically it is a power sport (using the ATP-CP system). This is why steroids kicked ass for baseball. It makes no sense for a baseball player to run long distance. They should be sprinting and doing explosive conditioning. Same goes with soccer. How many coaches make their players jog 5-10 miles. Soccer is a sprint sport and should be trained as such with intervals.

No Defined Seasons
Sport needs to be trained with an off season for growth and strength, pre-season for more skill specific exercises, and in season for maintaining and rehabbing from the rigors of the sport. In most sports it is impossible to gain strength and size during the season. This is why the off season is very important. Off season training should include heavy compound movements to get stronger and bigger. Pre-season should include more skill specific exercises (swinging a heavy bat against a tire, plyometrics, sprinting, what ever exercises benefit the sport). Pre-season should also concentrate on injury proofing the body with ankle, rotator cuff, shoulder, elbow, and other joint strengthening exercises. In season should be whatever the athlete needs to keep their strength and prevent injury.

Common Weaknesses 
There are 2 or 3 weaknesses that most athletes posses and I think it can be linked to training what you see in the mirror vs. training the functional muscles. Hamstring weakness is very common. The hamstring is what accelerates you forward when you run and perform explosive movements. A lying leg curl just wont develop this muscle. A Glute Ham Raise is the perfect choice for developing this muscle. Stiff leg deadlift, Romainian deadlift and Box squats will also develop this muscle. Next is hips / hip mobility. Squatting to correct depth will cure this as well as deadlifting. Also learn hip mobility exercises to keep your mobility in the hips which helps an athlete change directions and rotate quicker. The final weakness is the upper back. Rowing, face pulls, scarecrows, scap retractions, etc.. will cure this. A strong upper back will protect against a lot of upper body injury during a season. Especially baseball where the upper back decelerates the arm during throwing.

Putting it Together 
If I were training a pitcher in the off season I would concentrate on a powerlifting type program with extra shoulder rehab work. Abdominal work is a must to transfer power. Grappler, sledge hammer work, and med ball work is a staple to build rotational strength.

Pre Season I would limit the volume with the weights and pull the percentage down to 60-80% of max for weight work. A concentration on Plyos and Mobility is important. Sprinting and Throwing during this period is a must.

In season I would have the athlete lift based on weather or not they were a starter or every other day pitcher. Mostly training muscle groups and getting blood into the muscle so recovery can speed up.

This is just a sample and athletic training is complicated. If I knew the what I know now I may still be playing. I had major upper back weakness causing injury in my sub scap which put me out of the game. Had I known how important attacking these specific weaknesses were I could have prevented injury.

Thanks for reading!

Sets, Reps, and Intensity (An Understanding)

Wasting Time with Easy Gym Days

So you are motivate and ready to start training or have been training for a decent amount of time and are stuck with no gains. Look no further to the intensity of your workout. First off is this your workout?

Chest and Triceps day- where you bench 3 sets of 10, incline bench 3 sets of 10, cable crossover 3 sets of 10, triceps push down 3 sets of 10

Back and biceps- (all done 3 sets of 10) pull downs, rows variations, curls, hammer curls

Legs-(all done 3 sets of 10) leg press, leg curl, leg extension, calf raise

shoulders-(all done 3 sets of 10) military press, laterals, reverse fly

This is a generic workout that many beginners use and make some gains then flat line. The big issue is that sets of 10 suck in general. Everyone thinks that sets of 1-3 are for power, 4-8 are for strength and size, and 8-15 are for cutting. 

This is wrong and trainees end up with a stale non intense program.

The number #1 goal in America is to lose weight and "tone." Toning is a terrible goal because most think they can get by with 3 sets of 10-12 using light weights because I want to (cut). People are afraid that 1-3 reps will make them look "huge." 

This is FALSE! 1-3 reps do take power to perform however building power is all about building speed+strength. So 3 sets of 3 alone does not build power. Just like 3 sets of 6 alone does not build strength and size. Sets of 12-15 reps certainly does not help "cut."  

Understanding Your Goal

"Tone"  

What this really means is you want to lose fat and not look skinny fat. This take a combination of weight training/resistance training, diet, and conditioning. You must grow/maintain muscle to give you that "tight" look and lose the body fat. More muscle = higher metabolism at rest. A more intense work out will also trigger a hormonal response which also will aid in this goal.

Where you mess up toning-

* I am going to get too bulky and look like a bodybuilder

This is an insult to bodybuilders who eat and train for years to look the way they do. If for one second you think that you are going to gain 30lbs of muscle in 6 months of intense training, while on a caloric deficit, you have delusions of what the human body is capable of. 

*Higher reps with light weight will help me cut.

Not at all, higher reps with light weight is basically like walking. It does not do too much. Now higher reps at a high intensity will build quality muscle.This is better known as the repetition method and I suggest 20-30 reps for this on weak body parts.

"Strength"

What this means is getting stronger in the main lifts. This type of training requires lower repetitions with heavy weights for main lifts (squat, bench, dead, military press).  This will also require a trainee to train explosively as well (speed bench, box jumps, box squat, plyo push ups, etc...) You should also use higher reps on your assistance lifts to build quality muscle especially in lagging body parts most commonly the hamstrings, triceps, and upper back. 

Where you mess up training for Strength

*I max out every week

Maxing out is for testing not building. Some of the strongest lifters in the world will not do more that 4 reps over 90% of their one rep max. They found that any more would just cause injury and not build. 

*My program does not have any progression or periodization.

Most solid programs have a progression each week in weight, for example bench press- week 1-225lbs for 3 reps, week 2-230lbs for 3 reps, and week 3- 235lbs for 3 reps. Programs like this should be started light and have a light week every 4th week. You start light to keep progressing.

Periodizing will set your workouts up in 4 week blocks. Usually the first 4 weeks involve high volume, second 4 weeks decrease the volume but increase intensity (weight), and the last for weeks peak!

"Building"

Building muscle can be done a few different ways and good programming will address each way. First get stronger (see above). Next time under tension which means either higher reps with a moderate weight or timed sets (example dumbbell flys for 1 minute). Another way is volume (number of sets/total amount of weight lifted). 10 sets of 3 reps using 200lbs gives you 6000lbs total lifted. This compared to 3 sets of 10 using 150lbs which would = 4500lbs lifted. 

Where you mess up Building

*I have to do forced reps and go to failure

Going to absolute failure will crush your central nervous system especially on main lifts. This usually causes a person to do less weight than the week before and not understand why. 

*I don't deload ever

You have to rest to build muscle because thats when muscle grows. Every 4th week I suggest a light week.

Put it Together

Now that you got an idea of how sets and reps really work you can cater your program toward your goal. Keep in mind exercises should be done all at a high intensity. A good gage would be 1-2 reps shy of failure. 

So if you want to get bigger arms a 4 week program would look as such for your arm days

Week 1- 

Close grip bench press- 5 sets of 4 reps

Laying Triceps extension- 3 sets of 15 reps

Push downs- 1 set of 1 1/2 minutes

Barbell curls- 5 sets of 6 reps

Preacher curls- 1 set 1 1/2 minutes

Week 2

Close grip bench press- 7 sets of 4 reps

Laying Triceps extension- 3 sets of 18 reps

Push downs- 1 set of 1 1/2 minutes

Barbell curls- 7 sets of 6 reps

Preacher curls- 1 set 1 1/2 minutes

Week 3

Close grip bench press- 9 sets of 4 reps

Laying Triceps extension- 3 sets of 20 reps

Push downs- 1 set of 1 1/2 minutes

Barbell curls- 9 sets of 6 reps

Preacher curls- 1 set 1 1/2 minutes

Week 4

Deload with 2 sets of 5 on main lifts and 2 sets of 12 on assistance.

Obviously I just came up with this off the top of my head so given extra thought I may tweak it a little but you get the idea. 

Hopefully this made some sense I know its a bit technical but just remember that just do something intensely on a consistent basis and you will get results.