Lean Bodies Consulting

So I’m at the gym last night, done chest and hitting the tail end of my higher rep leg work, when what do I see as I come up to the next piece of equipment that I need? A guy drinking a PEPSI! A PEPSI during his workout. I had to do a double take on that one.

Figured I’d give a sample of last night’s chest work.

Incline DB Press - 4×6 w/ 95s
Flat DB Flies - 3×6 w/ 60s
Incline Bench Press - 3×8,6,6 w/ 205lbs
Flat DB Press - 3×8,7,6 w/ 75s

And I’m spent!

After this workout I headed home where I had a massage appointment (a friend of ours is an RMT and she just brings her table over). The goal was to have her work on my shoulders and she said they were just mangled. Unhealthy tissues in there so she did a number on them as she broke up a lot of scar tissue. My traps however, are very healthy. And then some pec work, which she said are very tight and I need to do more stretching for them.

It’s important to keep soft tissue quality in mind. You can have the best workout design, the best effort, etc., but if the soft tissue quality (adhesions and scar tissue) is such that it is impairing optimal functioning of the contracting muscles, your results are going to be compromised. Getting some ART (Active Release Technqiues) or seeing an RMT every now and then is a good idea. Stretching is good of course for working on tissue length, but tissue quality is also very important. In lieu of an RMT, doing some self myofascial release with a foam roller or the more user friendly STICK is a smart idea.

And to close off, I thought I’d post a few pictures of a figure client of mine, Hollie Higdon, who is just under two weeks out from the NPC Junior USAs. Looking lean eh?

Back Double Biceps

Biceps

Some Lower Ab Vascularity

So remember that vet appointment Dexter had on Saturday? The $300 one? Well, it turns out he had a reaction to one of the drugs they gave him. The skin around his eyes started drooping, his head was swelling and he was getting these little bumps all over his face/head. Plus he was throwing up. Of course, the vet was closed by the time this happened so we had to take him to the animal emergency (another $100). They gave him a couple shots and the reaction seemed to subside. That was a bit of a scare. He’s still throwing up today though so whatever they gave him sure didn’t agree with him. Poor guy.

So a few days ago I talked about ‘doing it a little differently’ in terms of my current approach to training for fat loss – for myself. You can either scroll down a bit or read it here.

Today I’m going to continue along those lines and talk about what I’m doing with my nutrition right now. Now, when I say I’m doing it a little differently right now, this just refers to my previous dietary approaches to fat loss – again, in myself. However, the doing it a little different angle is definitely applicable to what seems to be the common and current nutritional ‘wisdom’. Basically I’m referring to the prevailing practice of low, or at least lower, carb diets.

Now in myself, I am neither a low-carb guy, a high-carb guy or even a carb-cycling guy. I don’t believe in the labels as I feel nutrition needs to be catered to the individual and this is based on a proper assessment of the individual’s needs, circumstances for lack of a better word, dieting history, etc.

If I were to label what I typically tend to do in myself, it would be that of rather moderate carbs, with training days getting more than off days, which for me is a reflection of the fact that on days I’m training, and when I say training, I am only referring to lifting weights, my carb requirements are higher. Remember that carbohydrates are not essential per se, but they are conditionally essential with the condition being exercise intensity. I also ‘time’ my carbohydrates to periods of the day that are typically characterized by a heightened responsiveness to carbohydrates – namely the morning hours and the hours surrounding my workouts.

As I mentioned above, it seems that most people equate eating for fat loss with a low-carb intake these days. Even those who say it doesn’t matter what you do, still tend to be on the lower side of carbohydrate intake. And then you also hear that you need a certain amount of fat (I’ve seen all sorts of recommendations per pound of bodyweight) as well.

What am I doing? Not that. My diet is high carbs and very low fat. In fact, with the exception of six 1000mg fish oil capsules per day, I am not consuming any direct fat – no oils, no nuts, nothing. Of course, I get incidental fat in things like oatmeal, chicken, etc., but again, no direct fat. While I don’t particularly care for macronutrient percentages, (since they’re truly irrelevant and you can read my general thoughts on them here), to give you an idea, my diet is nearly 50% carbs. And to be honest, when you stop and think about it, it’s still not THAT high; it’s just that it’s not low. I eat carbohydrates in every single meal of the day, except for my final meal of the day.

Not only do I feel great, I am finding dieting to be an absolute piece of cake right now. Carbs are fun. Results? I’m getting leaner, and maintaining, if not gaining strength. Bodyweight is stable and in fact slightly up. Muscles are always full, gym pumps are great, my arms are more vascular, etc. My carbs are coming from oatmeal/berries, shredded wheat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, flavoured rice cakes and my favourite - the mini rice cakes that come in all sorts of super salted flavours. Piece.Of.Cake. Coupled with my high training volume, my carb intake pretty much suits what I’m currently doing. My off day (yeah, I’m only taking one right now) is just as high in carbs as my training days as well.

My point is simple - don’t get locked into the rigidity of the ‘established’ rules. Low carb is popular right now and has been for a while now, but there was a time when low fat was just as popular. It’s not how everyone has to do it. Individual assessment. How do you handle carbs? Do you feel great? Energetic? Sluggish and lethargic? Bloated? There are clues as to what approach to take in the answers to those questions. Where do you store your body fat? Relatively evenly distributed? Lower body dominant? Abdominal dominant? There are clues there as well.

I believe it was Lyle McDonald (although I could be wrong) who said that any diet that’s not retarded should work. Generally speaking of course.

The basics:

Set calories at a deficit (the most important element of any successful nutritional approach)
Set protein based on bodyweight or lean body mass
Get your EFAs (ie. fish oils)

From there, the X factor is what to do with your carbohydrates and fats, and this is where the fiddling, tweaking and adjusting based on your own feedback is important.

Carbs for the win!

Heavy chest and light quads up tonight.

So as previously mentioned, yesterday was my heavy shoulder/light arm workout. This is probably one of the ‘easier’ workouts of the week (the other shoulder/arm day being a bit easier). Easier in the sense that shoulders and arms generally isn’t ever as hard as hitting back or legs hard.

When you think of shoulder exercises, the first thoughts you have are probably different sorts of presses (dumbbell, barbell, seated, standing, push press, etc) and probably some kind of lateral raise exercise.

Everyone (or rather, most) does laterals but it’s one of those movements that unfortunately no one will ever be strong on. Of course, that assumes one is doing the movement correctly to begin with. It’s just such an isolated movement and the biomechanics of a strict lateral raise are just not favourable to heavy loads or even much in the way of progressive resistance. After a years of training, I’m not using much more weight now than I was before - but of course my pressing strength has gone way up.

So, instead, I’m now doing a different version of this exercise called the One-Arm Lateral Throw. Now this is a fun one, you’ll see. You can heave around some good weight with this exercise.

Why am I doing these?

I’ve been using these instead of the standard lateral raise for a few reasons.

1. I can use more weight.

2. I get way more out of the whole body. I’m wiped after these. Serious oxygen debt.

3. I can get more more action in the extreme range of this movement (see how high I can get the dumbbell) and subject my shoulders to lots more tension due to the load and accelerative forces.

Give this one a shot and I bet you like it as much as I do.

And yet another training day coming up - heavy shoulder work and light biceps/triceps work. Yesterday was heavy hamstring work and light back work. It looked liked this:

Lying Leg Curls - 4 sets
Seated Leg Curls - 3 sets
Romanian Deadlifts - 3 sets

Close-grip Pulldowns - 3 sets
One-arm Dumbbell Rows - 3 sets
Straight-arm Pulldowns - 2 sets
Hammer Strength Rows - 2 sets
*I cut out one movement today.

Weight today is up a bit at 221.5, which I can only hope reflects some positive recomping. I’m holding onto these 220s for dear life. Nah, I know I’ll have to drop into the teens soon. In the past, I’d start getting too antsy about getting too light; not because I really care what the scale number says, but rather what it reflects. This year I’ve accepted that I’m not carrying the muscle I used to and will have to get lighter, but I’m perfectly fine with that. I’ll keep dropping until I get ‘there’. As one of my clients and good friend Ileen says - the scale is just a random number generator.

Bodyweight in and of itself is just information. That’s it; nothing more, nothing less, just information. It tells you nothing about the composition of your weight at all. It is but ONE tool in the assessment toolbox, but the big caveat is that without context it is just meaningless information. Remember that. And go read my scale rant again.

In other news, I also have to get 10lbs off Dexter (Dexter being my Chocolate Lab). He went to the vets today ($300 geez) and weighed in at a whopping 89lbs. He must have been even heavier recently because he’s leaned out a bit with all the exercise he’s gotten in the last few weeks. Maybe I’ll get him to start training with me - I bet he’s got a big bench.

Here is he playing with his buddy Mikos. Will ya look at that snow?! Thank God winter is over.

More on doing it a little differently up next …

And by doing it a little differently, I am referring to the fact that I am taking a different approach to my own fat loss and dieting strategy than I have in past years. Perhaps a bit of an experiment of sorts.

One thing that we often hear talked and written about is how recovery is obviously going to be at least somewhat compromised on a caloric deficit when compared to eating in a caloric surplus. I’ve written about this a number of times myself and I still believe this is true. You simply don’t have the same recuperative resources when your calories are lower.

However, I think what’s happened as a consequence is that there has become a wide sweeping fear of volume when dieting. That’s not to say that a lower volume approach isn’t going to work - since it does and will continue to do its job if it’s set up properly. However, you have people that say anything more than 2-3 sets of 5 (as just an example) is too much and you’ll run yourself into the ground. I don’t believe this is true. Sure, I think perhaps for SOME people it MIGHT be … but I guess that’s part of my point; individual assessment. Everyone is different and some people can handle more than others.

And this also isn’t to say that a higher volume across the board is better either - individual assessment. Adding volume just for the sake of volume isn’t the point. I’ve read that referred to as ‘junk volume’.

And it’s not really the volume that we necessarily should be avoiding while dieting; it’s the need to avoid running ourselves into the ground with too much work - whether that be too much heavy lifting, too much metabolic work, too much interval training, too much steady state cardio, etc. Everyone needs to listen to their body and pay attention to their biofeedback.

Which brings me back around to my point of doing it a little differently. I typically follow an upper/lower split when dieting, with reduced volume (although not as low as some go), with a concentration of lower reps and compound movements, with some 10-12 rep stuff thrown in as well. Throw in a couple interval training workouts - on the days I do legs, but in a separate training session - and maybe a couple low intensity steady state sessions and I’m good to go.

This time however, I’m not doing that. Here’s a synopsis of what I’m currently doing:

- no traditional cardio; that means no intervals and no SS cardio
- training six days per week - yes, SIX
- body part split

A little different eh?

I am basically hitting everything twice per week. So for example, one day is shoulders and arms, which is heavy shoulder work and lighter arm work. Later in the week I have arms and shoulders with heavy arm work and lighter shoulder work. The same goes for the rest of my groupings.

I’m also doing 3-4 exercises PER bodypart and 3-4 sets EACH exercise, so I’m very far removed from the lower volume training while dieting approach. Heavy work is in the 5-8 rep range with full recovery and my lighter work is in the 12-15 rep range with incomplete recovery. I might also add this is NOT ‘metabolic work’. My lighter work is isolation-type work; not anything near those nasty metabolic workouts.

For example on my heavy quad day I did the following
Full Squats
Hack Squats
Leg Press
Bulgarian Squats
And then one set of Alternating Lunges

My light quad work looks like this (on another day, and more in the 15-20 rep range)
Leg Extensions
Single-leg Leg Press
Horizontal Leg Press
Walking Lunges

And you know what? I have no recovery issues whatsoever. None. In fact, I’m in week 3 now and my weights or reps have increased each workout and I’m still getting leaner … with no cardio. (I hate cardio)

I guess my point is to not always get locked into the rigidity of the ‘rules’. Pay attention to your body. I have had this problem myself in the past, but with exercise and training, it’s such an exhaustive field. There’s always more to learn and we’ll never know it all; at least I certainly won’t. I don’t see this as my ‘changing my tune’ so to speak, but rather adding to the knowledge base and evolving in my own learning.

There’s so many approaches and ways to be successful in your training. Read critically, but be open minded.