In an earlier post I mentioned that I am currently on a cutting diet. That remains the case and I am now at the 60 day mark. How's it going?
Waist size is down 2 inches and my muscle definition is beginning to really become apparent, especially in the ab region. Which has historicly for me been the last place fat leaves, so I know when cuts start appearing there, I am getting to where I want to be. Not that it matters a bit, but my total body weight is also down about 14 lbs. But what matters to me is that 2 inch waist reduction. Smaller waist = bigger looking upper body.
To recap, my target numbers are 1300 calories and 150 grams of protein daily. I also look to front load my calorie intake, trying to take in about 800 by 4:00 pm.
So here is MY breakfast, EVERYDAY:
4 egg whites, tspn Tabasco sauce, scrambled, no calorie butter flavored Pam
4 strips turkey bacon, microwaved
4 Fresh whole strawberries
Total calories: 280 Total grams protein: 32 Or, 45.7% of the total calories are protein based.
So by 9:00 am I have consumed a total of 330 calories (50 more in the 3-4 cups coffee I drink) and have 32 grams of my protein target 140-150. And I am full and properly nourished.
My next calorie consumption is determined by whether I work out in the morning or afternoon. If it's an afternoon workout, lunch is my next meal. If it's morning, I have a post workout protein smoothie and then eat lunch later in the day. So the workout determines the order and time of my lunch/protein shake calories. So for the purpose of this post let's go with a 8:30 9:30 workout, which would put me in a position to have my shake by 10:30 am. Given breakfast happened around 7:00ish the timing for more calories is perfect.
Here's my killer protein smoothie recipe:
1 17 oz Labrada Lean Body Banana & Cream 40 g protein 260 calories
8 large ice cubes
4 fresh strawberries 0 g protein 20 calories
I have found that I MUCH prefer the ready to drink (RTD) protein drinks over powder because of the vastly better taste and mixability. The downside is the higher cost. But it's worth it to me. I choose the Labrada product because I'm cutting and each serving has 0 gram sugar, and only 9 gram carbs and 9 grams fat. If I were in a muscle building phase, I would be less concerned with these numbers and might choose something else.
Now this is KEY! Because I am cutting and total calories matter, a lot, I only DRINK HALF my shake at this time. Why? I know I am going to take in more calories and protein in just a couple hours for lunch. So the whole shake is too much at this time.
So here's where I am at: 11:00 am, my workout is done, (and I could have done that at 7:00 am instead of 9:00, had the shake pre-workout and then breakfast after if I need to be to work by 9:00. Lunch would then be 11:30ish) and I have consumed this:
52 grams protein
470 total calories
Since I drank my shake at 11:00 am I will hold off on lunch until 1:00, which is fine because I am full right now, and still have 830 calories to eat for the rest of the day.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The Fastest Way to a Visible Six Pack
Summer is here and having a beach body is in high demand. If you have waited too long to get yours in shape, there is a way to rapidly increase the rate of fat loss necessary to get those abs out in public before the summer is over.
Everybody knows by now that having a visible six pack stomach is not about crunches, but instead about low body fat. But having said that, only being lean results in less than stellar abs, and will increase the time in which it takes for them to show. In other words, developed abs will show quicker than undeveloped ones with equal amounts of body fat, so why not work both sides of the equation to assist in getting your beach body.
Ab exercises need not be back breaking crunches and ineffective sit ups. More efficient ab moves can be found everywhere. The ones I recommend are planks and bridges. These are nothing more than the push up position modified to work your core area and are significantly more challenging and effective than most people realize. The fact they provide a full core workout without any back or neck discomfort makes them ideal for middle aged and up people.
Also, if you have access to a cable machine there are moves that you can do to take advantage of the machines ability to adjust weight loads that makes simple movements incredibly effective in building your six pack muscles. The reason most ab exercises are ineffective for so many people is that most peoples abs are not strong enough to lift the weight of their upper body. Hence they unknowingly "cheat".
You can find detailed descriptions of all these back saving ab blasting weight lifting routines all over the Internet.
Having better developed abs is the lessor half of the equation though. Reducing body fat into the single digits as a percentage of total body weight is the real solution to getting them visible. Some would say "diet" is the key. It is, but that isn't nearly specific enough. The real key is "the proper calorie composition and daily distribution rate" that makes it doable. Or, eating the right mix of foods in the right amounts at the right times of the day.
Today's muscle building supplements industry offers a wide range of very low calorie, fat and sugar products that are packed with muscle maintaining protein. If you combine these type products with a reduced calorie nutritional plan, in a relatively short amount of time the fat will melt away and your now better developed abs will show through.
Everybody knows by now that having a visible six pack stomach is not about crunches, but instead about low body fat. But having said that, only being lean results in less than stellar abs, and will increase the time in which it takes for them to show. In other words, developed abs will show quicker than undeveloped ones with equal amounts of body fat, so why not work both sides of the equation to assist in getting your beach body.
Ab exercises need not be back breaking crunches and ineffective sit ups. More efficient ab moves can be found everywhere. The ones I recommend are planks and bridges. These are nothing more than the push up position modified to work your core area and are significantly more challenging and effective than most people realize. The fact they provide a full core workout without any back or neck discomfort makes them ideal for middle aged and up people.
Also, if you have access to a cable machine there are moves that you can do to take advantage of the machines ability to adjust weight loads that makes simple movements incredibly effective in building your six pack muscles. The reason most ab exercises are ineffective for so many people is that most peoples abs are not strong enough to lift the weight of their upper body. Hence they unknowingly "cheat".
You can find detailed descriptions of all these back saving ab blasting weight lifting routines all over the Internet.
Having better developed abs is the lessor half of the equation though. Reducing body fat into the single digits as a percentage of total body weight is the real solution to getting them visible. Some would say "diet" is the key. It is, but that isn't nearly specific enough. The real key is "the proper calorie composition and daily distribution rate" that makes it doable. Or, eating the right mix of foods in the right amounts at the right times of the day.
Today's muscle building supplements industry offers a wide range of very low calorie, fat and sugar products that are packed with muscle maintaining protein. If you combine these type products with a reduced calorie nutritional plan, in a relatively short amount of time the fat will melt away and your now better developed abs will show through.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
How a Muscle Building Diet Will Lead to Visible Six Pack Abs
Have you noticed how professional bodybuilders no longer have to "starve" themselves to stay lean? Unlike the old days where a cutting cycle required a big muscle loss to also lose fat and get lean, today's weight lifters can control fat gain during muscle building and reduce muscle loss during the cut cycle. This is how.
Back in the early days of bodybuilding as a competition neared, the lifters would put themselves on ever shrinking calorie diets in an attempt to reduce their body fat. As a result of such a low calorie intake, it was impossible to maintain an energy level required to train as intensely for as long as they did during their muscle building, big calorie cycle. So muscle loss was inevitable.
Of course during this muscle building period to ingest the necessary amount of protein required by their bodies to take advantage of their intense training sessions, the calorie content would have to be so high that fat gain was unavoidable. So in essence it was 3 steps forward, then 2 steps back, over and over. My how things have changed.
Today's serious lifters are able to limit their fat gain during the muscle building times and can drastically cut muscle loss during the pre-competition cutting time. How do they do this?
The 2 biggest contributing factors are first, a much better understanding as to how the body processes the food it takes in. Today's lifters actually need more protein than their predecessors because they are so much larger now. We now know that the body can only process and use a certain amount of protein in any given time interval. Therefore the gluttonous meals of the past have been replaced by smaller, more frequent meals. This spreads the protein consumption out better so less is wasted.
The second major factor is that the muscle building supplements available today are more highly refined than yesteryear. The protein supplements that most of the big fella's take now are virtually all protein. Which means they are able to eat carbs and fats like anybody else would at meal time, and at the end of the day have gotten their required protein, eaten well and stayed low in total calories. Plus these supplements are ideal for the ability to spread out the intake. Keeping your calorie intake below your threshold is what allows muscle to be gained and limiting fat stores.
As you can now see, this type of muscle building diet leads to less fat to have to lose when the goal becomes getting your six pack to show. It also helps to have first rate weight lifting routines with which to capitalize on these improved muscle building diets and supplements. They can be found FREE at MuscleandHealth.
Back in the early days of bodybuilding as a competition neared, the lifters would put themselves on ever shrinking calorie diets in an attempt to reduce their body fat. As a result of such a low calorie intake, it was impossible to maintain an energy level required to train as intensely for as long as they did during their muscle building, big calorie cycle. So muscle loss was inevitable.
Of course during this muscle building period to ingest the necessary amount of protein required by their bodies to take advantage of their intense training sessions, the calorie content would have to be so high that fat gain was unavoidable. So in essence it was 3 steps forward, then 2 steps back, over and over. My how things have changed.
Today's serious lifters are able to limit their fat gain during the muscle building times and can drastically cut muscle loss during the pre-competition cutting time. How do they do this?
The 2 biggest contributing factors are first, a much better understanding as to how the body processes the food it takes in. Today's lifters actually need more protein than their predecessors because they are so much larger now. We now know that the body can only process and use a certain amount of protein in any given time interval. Therefore the gluttonous meals of the past have been replaced by smaller, more frequent meals. This spreads the protein consumption out better so less is wasted.
The second major factor is that the muscle building supplements available today are more highly refined than yesteryear. The protein supplements that most of the big fella's take now are virtually all protein. Which means they are able to eat carbs and fats like anybody else would at meal time, and at the end of the day have gotten their required protein, eaten well and stayed low in total calories. Plus these supplements are ideal for the ability to spread out the intake. Keeping your calorie intake below your threshold is what allows muscle to be gained and limiting fat stores.
As you can now see, this type of muscle building diet leads to less fat to have to lose when the goal becomes getting your six pack to show. It also helps to have first rate weight lifting routines with which to capitalize on these improved muscle building diets and supplements. They can be found FREE at MuscleandHealth.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
The Best Fathers Day Gift
I took over as my 13 year old daughters soccer team coach on Fathers Day 12 years ago. She was on a travel team that played almost year round and the annual try out's just happened to be on the week end of Fathers Day. To keep a "little" balance in our kid's lives our club and league had a rule that after try out's we were not allowed to have any organized team practices, using a ball, until the middle of August. A forced break to give kid's and their families a little time for summer vacations. Good idea in theory, but as you might expect, the best teams found away to train, somehow, in spite of this.
Well we were not one of the better teams (which is why there had been a coaching change) but I was determined to at least get us closer. I felt that on top of the obvious lack of soccer skills, our girls were not good at "competing". In keeping with the spirit of "not training with a ball", I instead held "voluntary" conditioning 3 times a week at my home gym.
It's in the basement with basic weight stuff, lots of room. I set up stations and paired the girls up and we did intervals of 1 minute on, 30 seconds rest, switch stations and so on. The kids loved it!! NOT the training, but just doing it, as a group, being together, having "fun". Most of my parents HATED it. Saw it as a waste of time, "the girls are to young for this", "they need soccer skills, not lifting skills" and so on.
Bear in mind that most of the parents of my girls were fairly well to do professionals (why they had their kid playing on a fairly expensive travel soccer team). This means that they made their money with their heads and brains, not the sweat of their brow. Not good, bad, better, or worse. Just that the idea of "working physically hard" was NOT something many of them had to do, or WANTED to do.
Not many of my parents were in very good physical shape either. What a coincidence.
But I wanted the girls to get "tougher". Resistance training teaches you that a little "pain" is necessary to make a difference physically. "It hurts" and "I'm tired" are no reasons to quit. In the gym OR the soccer field.
Also I was trying to instill something I felt was even more important. Good physical fitness habits. Remember these were 13 year old girls that had an interest in doing something other than watching TV or playing video games. At least they joined a group that did something active. So I felt they were already primed to absorb more info about how being physically fit mattered, then and forever.
Fast forward to today. My daughter is 25, and like most young athletes, hasn't "played" since high school. I was the same way, as are most people. It was during the years 22-35 that I tried to do some muscle building, but really all I did was take advantage of my "youth" to be able to live a fairly inactive life and stuff myself with mostly lousy fast food. I never gained a lot of weight, but like anybody with these habits, I gained a pound or two a year and, bam, 13 years later I'm 30 pounds out of "shape".
I had to learn the hard way.
I took over my daughters soccer team when I was 40, and had "figured it out" by then, which was why I did what I did, whether my parents understood it or not.
So, what does this mean to me on Fathers Day? Well, as I said my daughter is your average 25 year old. Last night I'm sure she went out, had a few drinks and ate some pretty lousy bar food. Might have even done it Friday night as well. Just like I used to. BUT she learned that other "habit" from me too.
Today, with no input, suggestion or prodding, my daughter will hit the gym, on Sunday, for the first of her 5 days this week of weight training. She's not trying to be "Ms. Olympia". She just knows that fitness is important, has learned to enjoy it, and it is, and will be, a part of her life forever.
What a great Fathers Day gift for me, and she doesn't even know she's giving it.
Have a great, safe, and healthy Father's Day.
Well we were not one of the better teams (which is why there had been a coaching change) but I was determined to at least get us closer. I felt that on top of the obvious lack of soccer skills, our girls were not good at "competing". In keeping with the spirit of "not training with a ball", I instead held "voluntary" conditioning 3 times a week at my home gym.
It's in the basement with basic weight stuff, lots of room. I set up stations and paired the girls up and we did intervals of 1 minute on, 30 seconds rest, switch stations and so on. The kids loved it!! NOT the training, but just doing it, as a group, being together, having "fun". Most of my parents HATED it. Saw it as a waste of time, "the girls are to young for this", "they need soccer skills, not lifting skills" and so on.
Bear in mind that most of the parents of my girls were fairly well to do professionals (why they had their kid playing on a fairly expensive travel soccer team). This means that they made their money with their heads and brains, not the sweat of their brow. Not good, bad, better, or worse. Just that the idea of "working physically hard" was NOT something many of them had to do, or WANTED to do.
Not many of my parents were in very good physical shape either. What a coincidence.
But I wanted the girls to get "tougher". Resistance training teaches you that a little "pain" is necessary to make a difference physically. "It hurts" and "I'm tired" are no reasons to quit. In the gym OR the soccer field.
Also I was trying to instill something I felt was even more important. Good physical fitness habits. Remember these were 13 year old girls that had an interest in doing something other than watching TV or playing video games. At least they joined a group that did something active. So I felt they were already primed to absorb more info about how being physically fit mattered, then and forever.
Fast forward to today. My daughter is 25, and like most young athletes, hasn't "played" since high school. I was the same way, as are most people. It was during the years 22-35 that I tried to do some muscle building, but really all I did was take advantage of my "youth" to be able to live a fairly inactive life and stuff myself with mostly lousy fast food. I never gained a lot of weight, but like anybody with these habits, I gained a pound or two a year and, bam, 13 years later I'm 30 pounds out of "shape".
I had to learn the hard way.
I took over my daughters soccer team when I was 40, and had "figured it out" by then, which was why I did what I did, whether my parents understood it or not.
So, what does this mean to me on Fathers Day? Well, as I said my daughter is your average 25 year old. Last night I'm sure she went out, had a few drinks and ate some pretty lousy bar food. Might have even done it Friday night as well. Just like I used to. BUT she learned that other "habit" from me too.
Today, with no input, suggestion or prodding, my daughter will hit the gym, on Sunday, for the first of her 5 days this week of weight training. She's not trying to be "Ms. Olympia". She just knows that fitness is important, has learned to enjoy it, and it is, and will be, a part of her life forever.
What a great Fathers Day gift for me, and she doesn't even know she's giving it.
Have a great, safe, and healthy Father's Day.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Add an Inch to Your Arms in 30 Days
Unless you work as a life guard, you probably wear a shirt most of your day. So massive pecs and cannonball deltoids aren't visible. But your arms are. Most people don't build mass on their arms for the simplest of reasons. They are out smarting themselves.
Massive arms are built the same way other body parts are, lifting a lot of weight. The problem is that they are small muscles as compared to back, chest and legs muscles, therefore moving a lot of weight with your arms is difficult. Some people think that it's all relative, meaning smaller muscles will grow by moving proportionally smaller weight. Those people have small arms still. Trust me.
There comes a time when isolation exercises like bicep curls and triceps kickbacks does build mass. It's when you already have mass and this allows you to throw around the amount of weight necessary to do it. Not to compare yourself to pro bodybuilders, but when they do isolated bicep curls they are using 80 pound and up dumbbells. Do you? Do you think they got arms big enough to do this by building up from the 20's or so that you probably use? If so keep using them and wondering, "why aren't my arms getting any bigger?"
So what's the answer to this weight lifting routine irony? Pull ups and full body weight dips. The average male can do 1 of each. That was 1. The reason is you need mass to do them. What builds that mass? Doing THEM. Not accepting lessor weights thinking you will "build up" to being able to do them. You won't. How do you think you will ever build enough mass to lift a weight amount you never even try to lift? You won't. So stop lifting like you will.
When you want to work your arms ONLY do pull ups and full body dips. You can modify each by doing only the negative of the pull up and dips off a bench for starters. By even doing this your arms are moving significantly more weight than you can curl or kickback. As soon as you are able to do just 1 of each, never do the lessor modification again. Do your 1, rest and try to do another. Soon 2 turns to 3, 3 to 4 and so on.
Training your arms with whatever your full body weight is will build your arms not only faster, but larger than any other exercise there is. This and other weight lifting routines and muscle building tips can be found for FREE at my home site, MuscleandHealth.
Massive arms are built the same way other body parts are, lifting a lot of weight. The problem is that they are small muscles as compared to back, chest and legs muscles, therefore moving a lot of weight with your arms is difficult. Some people think that it's all relative, meaning smaller muscles will grow by moving proportionally smaller weight. Those people have small arms still. Trust me.
There comes a time when isolation exercises like bicep curls and triceps kickbacks does build mass. It's when you already have mass and this allows you to throw around the amount of weight necessary to do it. Not to compare yourself to pro bodybuilders, but when they do isolated bicep curls they are using 80 pound and up dumbbells. Do you? Do you think they got arms big enough to do this by building up from the 20's or so that you probably use? If so keep using them and wondering, "why aren't my arms getting any bigger?"
So what's the answer to this weight lifting routine irony? Pull ups and full body weight dips. The average male can do 1 of each. That was 1. The reason is you need mass to do them. What builds that mass? Doing THEM. Not accepting lessor weights thinking you will "build up" to being able to do them. You won't. How do you think you will ever build enough mass to lift a weight amount you never even try to lift? You won't. So stop lifting like you will.
When you want to work your arms ONLY do pull ups and full body dips. You can modify each by doing only the negative of the pull up and dips off a bench for starters. By even doing this your arms are moving significantly more weight than you can curl or kickback. As soon as you are able to do just 1 of each, never do the lessor modification again. Do your 1, rest and try to do another. Soon 2 turns to 3, 3 to 4 and so on.
Training your arms with whatever your full body weight is will build your arms not only faster, but larger than any other exercise there is. This and other weight lifting routines and muscle building tips can be found for FREE at my home site, MuscleandHealth.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
You Are Only 60 days from Visible Abs
Arms and abs. Without doubt numbers 1 and 2 on every bodies "I want to have those" list of fitness goals. With a couple relatively small changes to your current fitness routine and diet, getting those abs to show can happen much quicker than you think.
Getting your abs to show is a two part process, with one part being somewhat more critical. We all know that excess body fat is the reason that your abs don't show through. Unfortunately there is no way, regardless of claims by some midsection reducing product websites, to "spot reduce" your body fat. It is simply physically impossible for your body to know you want fat lost in a particular area first, or most. What you CAN do is employ the other process, developing your abdominal muscles more, and in conjunction with total body fat loss, this added development makes their appearance happen more quickly.
One of the biggest reasons "getting your abs to be visible" diets fail, is that after a few weeks of sincerely trying, your abs will not be showing. You won't even see a difference, though your waist line is shrinking. Frustrated, people quit, because it isn't working. But it is, IF you have not been misled, it just takes a little more time than claims some will make. Your abs will be the LAST muscles in your body to show definition, not the first. So, 60 days is a realistic time frame, depending on how overweight you are to begin with. Assuming the average person is 40 lbs overweight, you will need to lose 25 of it before your abs even begin to show. I know this because I have done it before and am 45 days into doing it again.
The 2 single biggest diet modifiers you can make to help any fat reduction plan be successful (notice I said fat reduction, NOT weight loss per se) is to totally eliminate processed carbs and ingest 0 calories in the form of liquids (except for protein based drinks other than milk. I use some of the newest weight lifting supplements that are currently available to guarantee the correct content). Obviously you have to have a net daily calorie deficit going to lose any kind of weight, but fat loss is exponentially faster without these 2 calorie sources. In layman's terms that means no bread (not even whole wheat), pasta, rice, noodles, flour in any form and so on. By eliminating caloried drinks your sugar consumption plummets and the resulting sugar spikes that help induce cravings for these kinds of food is gone. So no alcohol, sports drinks, or the worst, fruit juices. Get your nutrients from food, not liquid! This helps you eat less of other kinds of food.
Developing abs will show faster than undeveloping ones, all things else equal. That's just a fact. So don't ignore training your abdominal muscles. It makes the process of fat loss a much shorter requirement. You can find all the helpful FREE weight lifting routines for this kind of ab work, beginner through advanced at my home site, MuscleandHealth.
Getting your abs to show is a two part process, with one part being somewhat more critical. We all know that excess body fat is the reason that your abs don't show through. Unfortunately there is no way, regardless of claims by some midsection reducing product websites, to "spot reduce" your body fat. It is simply physically impossible for your body to know you want fat lost in a particular area first, or most. What you CAN do is employ the other process, developing your abdominal muscles more, and in conjunction with total body fat loss, this added development makes their appearance happen more quickly.
One of the biggest reasons "getting your abs to be visible" diets fail, is that after a few weeks of sincerely trying, your abs will not be showing. You won't even see a difference, though your waist line is shrinking. Frustrated, people quit, because it isn't working. But it is, IF you have not been misled, it just takes a little more time than claims some will make. Your abs will be the LAST muscles in your body to show definition, not the first. So, 60 days is a realistic time frame, depending on how overweight you are to begin with. Assuming the average person is 40 lbs overweight, you will need to lose 25 of it before your abs even begin to show. I know this because I have done it before and am 45 days into doing it again.
The 2 single biggest diet modifiers you can make to help any fat reduction plan be successful (notice I said fat reduction, NOT weight loss per se) is to totally eliminate processed carbs and ingest 0 calories in the form of liquids (except for protein based drinks other than milk. I use some of the newest weight lifting supplements that are currently available to guarantee the correct content). Obviously you have to have a net daily calorie deficit going to lose any kind of weight, but fat loss is exponentially faster without these 2 calorie sources. In layman's terms that means no bread (not even whole wheat), pasta, rice, noodles, flour in any form and so on. By eliminating caloried drinks your sugar consumption plummets and the resulting sugar spikes that help induce cravings for these kinds of food is gone. So no alcohol, sports drinks, or the worst, fruit juices. Get your nutrients from food, not liquid! This helps you eat less of other kinds of food.
Developing abs will show faster than undeveloping ones, all things else equal. That's just a fact. So don't ignore training your abdominal muscles. It makes the process of fat loss a much shorter requirement. You can find all the helpful FREE weight lifting routines for this kind of ab work, beginner through advanced at my home site, MuscleandHealth.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Back to Basics: How to Build Muscle Mass
As I've already said, I am on a mission to get lean. In so doing I have reduced my daily calorie intake to about half of what it would be under normal circumstances. In trying to lose as close to only fat as I can, the majority of that calorie reduction has come from carbs, which happen to be the fuel for our energy source. Obviously then I expected a reduction in my energy level, thus affecting my ability to push hard in the gym.
It is a very tough balancing act. This is where the road to success or failure becomes very clear.
It is widely accepted that compound exercises are the way to build muscle fast. Therefore you could also say that it would be the most efficient way to maintain the muscle you already have. So with a reduced energy level, my ability to push through longer workouts, the type that a lot of isolation moves generally requires, just is not there, at least every day. So my choices become pretty clear. I can increase my carb intake, which will slow my fat loss or become more efficient in my workouts.
My choice? I am going with my Phase 1 weight lifting routine for the forseeable future.
As much as I enjoy isolating biceps, triceps and blasting out sets of cable flies, at the end of my energy level, I just haven't done enough to maintain the mass I currently have.
You can get my FREE weight lifting routines for the beginner, intermediate and advanced lifter at my home site.
So the lesson here is that, as I already knew, compound exercises are still and will forever be, the best path to the most muscle, even for someone that can justify isolating smaller muscles.
It is a very tough balancing act. This is where the road to success or failure becomes very clear.
It is widely accepted that compound exercises are the way to build muscle fast. Therefore you could also say that it would be the most efficient way to maintain the muscle you already have. So with a reduced energy level, my ability to push through longer workouts, the type that a lot of isolation moves generally requires, just is not there, at least every day. So my choices become pretty clear. I can increase my carb intake, which will slow my fat loss or become more efficient in my workouts.
My choice? I am going with my Phase 1 weight lifting routine for the forseeable future.
As much as I enjoy isolating biceps, triceps and blasting out sets of cable flies, at the end of my energy level, I just haven't done enough to maintain the mass I currently have.
You can get my FREE weight lifting routines for the beginner, intermediate and advanced lifter at my home site.
So the lesson here is that, as I already knew, compound exercises are still and will forever be, the best path to the most muscle, even for someone that can justify isolating smaller muscles.
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