Winter Program, can you help Vickie?
 

Hi Vickie,

Here in the UK, its getting cooler and the golf season will soon be over. This year I want to lose a lot of excess weight over the next 6 months and get leaner.

I have been on and off different fitness programs the last few years. I tried jogging but hated the pain I would get in my back and legs. I had great success with lifting and would like to do more of it. I also enjoy (for some sadistic reason) HIIT sessions and would like to include those as well.

I believe in metabolic typing and feel I am best suited to a paleolithic diet with little or no simple carbs.

We had our second baby in June and I'm finding it hard to get up out of bed and go to the gym early (which is my preferred time). Being self employed, I can be flexible with my approach.

I enjoy swimming as well.

Can you point me in the right direction?

If there are any reference books you think I should go for I'm willing to look at them. Your own guidelines would be most appreciated.

Styles:salut:

Hi Vickie,

guess you have been busy.

I have decided to crack on on my own in the mean time until I hopefully hear from you.

I have decided to take a two fold approach to my challenge.

1) Regular exercise
2) Proper nutrition.

Exercise:

I am hoping to exercise as much as possible - an hour a day. The intention is to have two days of cardio in the form of HIIT sessions and 2 days resistance training. The other days I hope to have a mixture of exercise that is 'exercise without realising you're exercising' and swimming.
I feel confident that I can plan my HIIT sessions effectively, where I feel really lost is in planning my resistance sessions.

I have heard that taking a large weight through a full range of motion is most effective alongside using one's own body weight but really I don't know what to do.

If you do get a chance to read this and make a recommendation on a source I'd really appreciate it.

For now I am using 'T-nation' to help me achieve my goals.

A great book is Functional Training for Sports by Mike Boyle. If you want golf specific then Mark Verstegen's golf version of Core Performance would work. I would highly recommend either or both books.

Matt

Okie's Nickel's Worth
 

GPS,

I do not possess Vicki's expertise, but like most people I have to eat and move! If I may I would like to share some guiding principles that have proven successful for me.

1. Sustainable pace - this is incredibly important. I am not suggesting one pace, but rather a sutainable pace given the season. For example - I have more time to exercise during the summer months (psychologically I am morei n the mood to as well.) So I tend to go on a mass gaining cycle. When I reach say week 7-8 my enthusiasm starts to wane as my body tires. I take two weeks off (my favorite cycle) with the stipulation that my diet stays clean. I then hit an eight week maintainance cycle (significantly lighter lifting.) When the weather cools (busy time of the year) I cannot easily exercise for the same length of time. I seldom have more than 20-30 minutes per day to devote to exercise (barring an ungoldly wake up call) So, I hit one body part each session, 6 days a week. It sounds like a lot but it is easier to do frequent short sessions, this time of year. I take another two weeks off around the holidays (no food stipulation this time, though!) Once the holidays are over, I modify my diet by adding more good fats (orange flavored codliver oil, flaxseed oil in slad dressing) I have found that it helps my immune system during the winter months. I try to sweat at least twice a week (stationary bike.) I do not do much cardio during my other cycles...usually some kind of interval training though. So my point is that it is a year round deal that is customed to my work and family schedule i.e. has reality at its base, not mere New Years Resolution. Like good architecture it must blend in the landscape of your life...or it will eventually be demolished!

2. Progressive overload - heavier weights, faster reps, shorter rest periods etc. I try to challenge myself a little more than I did last time. Try lifting a weight you can perform 20 reps with 10 sets of 10 reps! I do not always do it scientifically, except that I do follow that basic principle. I hate running...and treadmills even more. I have found running "wind sprints" for 10 minutes to be more beneficial. I would rather work...say chest hard for twenty minutes and leave than endure a marathon session and hate to be there. Some guys tend to work out for too long anyway.

3. Consistency - Something is better than nothing, and less is often more. Push ups during TV commercials is better than doing nothing with the anemic excuse of "I could not get to the gym today!" Except for one 8 week period my program is quite tame, but it is consistent. I go full bore for 1 cycle, but essentially maintain and keep my hand in for the rest of the year.

4. Kitchen work - I tend to be very discipline Mon-Fri and relax on the weekends. Diet is key. I tend to cycle my diet as well. They say abs are made in the kitchen. All but few take in more calories/kilojoules than their body needs, especially during the winter months.

Hope that helps.

Agreed.

Verstegen and Boyle are two of the very best. I give them both full credit in now that I am much stonger, more flexible, have better balance and live virtually pain free. I know its improved my ability to properly swing a golf club.

Their philisophies towards how to eat was also extremely effective for me.

Hey Knob - Thanks for your first post :) keep it up. :salut:


:shock: :shaking: Wachutawkinbout???

Thanks for the help and advice guys, I will check out the recommended books.

I too believe that diet is key and to help me I have started keeping a food diary. The amount of crap I eat is unreal and it beggars belief to see the massive effort in the gym undone by bad food choices several hours later.

I have increased my fluid intake as well - sadly it is water not beer fluid that I am increasing :laughing9

Thanks Knob for the recommendation. My library happens to have some books written by Mark Verstegen.

Back again
 

Sorry to disappear Styles, I go into crunch time and loose track of the site from time to time. The good news is that you have received perfect posts from other members. Okie's post could have come right out of my material. Diet is number one on your list if reducing your body fat is your first motivation or your last. There are a lot of books and a lot of experts but I will tell you that if you squeeze them all you will get basically the same juicy information. Your nutrition will be mandated by your fat to lean muscle ratio and your level of activity. If you are not a lover of cardio your nutrition will have to be stricter and even that should but don't get caught in the trap of thinking you can eat too many calories if you do more cardio and even worse eat too little to support a heavily loaded workout.

I really still like the Zone diet because Dr Sears provides all of the formulas and even portions out the food by doing the math. People tend to think it's a high protein diet but it is a macronutrient appropriate approach if you bother to use his formula's. If you look at this don't get too worried that he catargorizes foods as best, less favorable and least favorable. You can eat everything he is just directing you toward the foods that factor well from both a glycemic level and a fat presence and quality. Your nutritional program, no matter which expert gets you started, must become your own. The mediterranean diet is just the new name for a clean and healthy approach to feeding your body. Eat frequent small meals to receive the thermogenic benefit of digestion and assure complete assimilation of the micronutrients without any excess to store. Eat food in their most natural state which means reduce your dependency on quick, boxed and frozen foods. Get organized and freeze your own for quick, healthy, available meals. Watch alcohol, it not only messes with your insulin system but there are some real associations with muscle wasting.


Off season is the best time to pick up your strength training. Twice a week means that you are not going to create a body building program so you won't see quite the fat burn that some people get from their programs. You just can't move max weights on the whole body in one workout. But you will increase the quality of the muscle and it's effeciency in creating energy and this will turn your metabolism on and balance your adrenal (stress) gland.

Remember that you only need a minimum of 20 minutes two to three times a week for maximal heart health but you'll have to pick it up if you want to use it to burn off some excess fuel you body has stored in your waist tank. Switch to the elitical trainers or rowing machines or even walk on the treadmill at a swift pace with long strides instead of jogging. With babies in the house you have the best motivation to get outdoor cardio with a stroller (it's worth investing in a walking stroller-check Ebay or used sporting good stores; we have something called Play it again Sports). Put on some headphones (I even like books on tape) and take those babies out for some Dad time. It will be good for them, for you, and your wife, too. [FYI, my 21 year old son doesn't workout because I trained him to but because he saw me do it consistently throuhout his life without hearing me complain. He saw me work it into my schedule like everything else that was important in our schedule so he now jokes that he "doesn't know any better".] Workout when it works in your flexible schedule just make sure it's present on your calendar or the time can get away from you. Don't think you have to get all your cardio in one workout. Maybe take a morning walk and an afternoon walk and give both babies their vitamin D. Just remember that you have to get your heart rate elevated to raise your metabolism and move into fat burn but then it will keep working for you when you're back to work. I Also have a small tape recorder that I carry so I can dump ideas that come into my mind during the walk. I have written some of my best speeches while walking; which also kept me out a little longer, anything to make it less.

Consistency is the secret if there is one. But the greatest defeater is trying to start everything at premium level all at once. If you are really serious about suceeding approach this like you would any other big project and build it out from a solid foundation. Begin your nutritional adjustments with only two significant changes in the first week. If you skip breakfast, or eat a bad one, then I always suggest making that your first choice. Then choose one other nutritional behavior that is obviously correctable; if you drink daily reduce it to twice a week, if you eat at the fast food drive through just stop it, if you only eat three big meals reduce their size and ad one mini meal . . . you get my drift. Then find two more places to improve in week two and so on. You only have to commit one week at a time and most people don't fall backwards. Start your walks slow and don't worry about the length so much in week one, just make sure you make all of the appointments that you have written in your daytimer.Week two decide on the time and distance but wait til week three to start measuring heart rate. Pay attention to how long it takes you to complete a certain distance and as you start finishing quicker you can start adjusting your distance. You'll begin to create an appreciation for your work without feeling exhausted or like you put your whole life on whole. As you start becoming more familiar with your body and less distracted by all the new "have-to's" you'll realize how easy it is to take care of yourself, how much better you feel in your clothes and how much more energy you have.

Then you never have to start over again. I'm back in the loop again so let us know how things are going. I am sure impressed by our LBG contributors WAY TO GO GUYS!!!!
Vik

Thanks for your help and advice Vickie. I especially like your advice about taking the baby out strolling.

After reading around the subject, I have decided on the following approach.

I am going to follow the 'German Body Comp' of Charles Poliquin. I like the way he is described in T-nation:

I received some great advice on my diet as well. I intend to follow a paleo diet plan with a maximum of 2 cheat meals per week.

I'll let you know how its progressing.