The Less is More Thread

[littleman]

There definitely seems to be a back-to-basics movement when it comes to lifting weights.  In the 90s everyone was into muscle isolation movements like dumbbell flys and concentration curls.  These days it seems everyone is emphasizing compound movements like dead-lifts, squats, pull-ups bench-press, etc.  Everybody really into weightlifting trains much more like  a power lifter these days.

My personal take is that these things are are at least partially a trend.  Overall I think concentrating on the basic movements is a good thing, but I train something in the middle.  I do compound exercises, but I still work my smaller muscles like biceps and caves on their own.

One thing that I think is getting lost in the buzz out there is that you need to treat your body gentler as you get older.  I do more warming up and higher reps on my first set or two than I did in my 20s.  I use to always do low reps, 6 to 8, but these days I work up to 16 reps with lighter weight while keeping my form strict.  I have to keep my ego in check, but I've managed to keep from jacking anything up.  I also avoid anything that can aggravate old injuries, sometimes that takes discipline.

[Drastic]

So I'm back into the swing of things after being out a few months. I had a weird double injury (heel and knee) due to remodeling/moving my office about 4 months ago. (so much for building a house or something to stay in shape, eh rc.)

Surprisingly I stayed roughly where I was at time of injury - 210-211 lbs, which means my diet is pretty solid. After the first week my new low was 207 after I shed some of the extra fat, but went right back to 209-211 range after 2 weeks, overall  trading muscle for fat. Still leery of working legs yet, hopefully soon.

At age 41, I'm quite surprised I bounced right back, and it feels good. This is probably the best shape I've been in, in my adult life.

[littleman]

Good for you Dras.

I'm at hovering around 202-204 right now and am itching to get to 200 which is about what I weighed Senior year in high school.  Every pound is a struggle at this point, lots of work.  The first 25 came off easy, the next wasn't too bad, but after hitting 225 its been really slow.

Workout wise I've stared doing  squats and deadlifts to strengthen my lower half and work on mobility -- I think it has helped this desk-jockey.  I use to get lower back aches but they seem to be gone now.  I started out really (almost embarrassing) light but have been gradually increasing my weight each week.  My last deadlift I was repping 205 which isn't a lot but is just above my body weight so I feel pretty good about that considering where I started.

Diet: I'm eating chicken, eggs, lots of leafy greens, some beans, and little fruit.  I have a tiny bit of milk every once in a while in a cappuccino.  One cheat meal a week and some dark chocolate on the day of the cheat meal.

[Rumbas]

I began 2011 with working out mainly lifting weights and very light cardio 3-4 times a week. I also try cutting food with too many carbs any keep away from the most "white" stuff.

I quickly cut off 17 lbs but more or less stayed there until today. Seems I'm trading some fat for muscle hanging around 230 lbs.

Training 3-4 times a week, just started to split the workout. I work out with a buddy which is key for me. Also missing a few sessions is not good mentally, however the longer we have been going, the more we wanna go and try not to miss too many times.

We try make it a good set in about 90 minutes, doing 4 sets, usually 12-10-8-6 reps with increasing weights. We both did some weights as young, so we tend to train quite heavy. We also keep a pretty fast pace between sets to keep the pulse up.

The #1 challenge is with increased training you get more hungry and the mind tries to convince you to eat more. Being creative with you have in the house is the trick for me. It's so easy to eat carbs and a lot more work to prepare veggies, meat etc., but if you only have want you need and not all the you want, then it's easier.

Having a body that sucks up everything I eat, going on a binge for a weekend will easily ad 4-5 lbs, so the hard truth for me is to get even more cardio and eat less. No surprise really, but sucks anyway

I feel a lot better though.

[littleman]

>Having a body that sucks up everything I eat, going on a binge for a weekend will easily ad 4-5 lbs

Yeah, I'm the same way, if I binge too hard it will take up to two weeks to undo it on the scale.   Keep at it Rumbas, that is some good progress.

[Drastic]

>Every pound is a struggle at this point, lots of work.

Yeah, that worry has crossed my mind a couple times. I know the last to go are the hardest, but I'm trying to forget about crossing that bridge until I get to it.

>going on a binge for a weekend will easily ad 4-5 lbs

Isn't it amazing? Funny enough, lately my worst temptation? Waffle House. All Star Special. Waffle, eggs, bacon (or ham or sausage), toast, hash browns or grits, coffee. At least I can skip the next meal.

[Rumbas]

I wouldn't have lost a pound if we had Waffle House and Sticky Fingers here

In terms of working out, we usually do bench press, squats and dead lifts. Also dumb bells  - flyers, pullovers, pecks. We got a great machine to do assisted chin-ups and dips which is awesome when you have trouble pulling your own weight up. We try to split it doing chest, shoulder and triceps one day, back and biceps the next. It's tough as it's so specific to each muscle group, but very effective.

I try to play a least one or two rounds of golf with a carry bag each week as well. Again, not a lot of cardio but still a rather good walk with 30 lbs on your back.

[Drastic]

If you're interested in losing weight, you should put some cardio into your plan. 20-30 mins 3 times a week would make a huge difference.

[Rumbas]

Good point Dras and also my experience. However I really hate cardio, so it's much tougher mentally.

[dogboy]

I haven't checked in here in a bit but thought I would give my opinion on some points...

- drink ice cold water because you will not only end up hydrated but if it is ice water, your body will burn significant calories to heat it up to your body temp.  Day after day, this will add up.  If you don't like water, just add a half of lemon.  It makes it taste better and its a cleaning agent for your body.

- don't turn yourself into a bodybuilder... it's not really that healthy and your body will generate a bunch of waste by burning so hot.  Moderation in weight training is key.  It doesn't matter if you can bench press a bus if you cant jog around the block.  Just all the way around the block, not a marathon.  A truly healthy person does better in all areas than either a specialist, or an out of shape person will.  If you have a bum knee, ride a bike or swim to make sure you can still move your dead a## around. Its a good litmus test.

- do more exercises that don't require props, like different styles of pushups, situps/crunches, pull ups, jumping jacks, etc.  That way you never have an excuse not to do it.  Wake up, do 100 pushups/50 situps, bolt 2 glasses of water and take a shower.  Then add whatever you want to that. If you guys want to get ripped, this is your ticket.  Weights just ad bulk and most people end up with odd looking bodies because they think they do something really well.  

- Every muscle you train, make sure you train the opposite one. Biceps/triceps, stomach/back, etc.  You never just do one thing.

- stretch more. you'll end up less injured and more flexible and limber.  Yeah, feeling tight has its place, but so does feeling flexible.  In jiu-jitsu many people don't believe in weights at all because they usually end up limiting your movement, flexibility and speed, and when you look at them their build is so much more attractive, balanced and natural looking, because by doing real work, you concentrate on all your muscles, and how they work together in concert... not focus on, say 12 different exercises that make you just look like you are in shape, but in actuality you can only move things around in a gym.  Every meathead that I've seen walk into our gym cant make it through our warmup without sitting down or puking.  However, you can put our top fighters into any situation and I'm completely confident they can make through with at least average performance for whatever you throw at them, even if they've never done it before, and they will be able to do it again the next day at the same level, without b###hing they are sore. Not even a question about it.  Thats because we touch all the muscles other people didn't even know they had, because that is our goal.

[dogboy]

...as far as diets go, here's what the Champ says:
http://www.bjjcenter.com/multimedia/articles/detail.php?ArticleID=4

[mick g]

>>>>Wow, he has a body just like

have you got a sun tan too 

[eurotrash]

>>>>Wow, he has a body just like

have you got a sun tan too 

He's from Essex Mick.  They all have sun tans - straight out of the spray gun

[Rumbas]

Good points Rob. Will look a bit into that.

>Champ

So, you telling me he's not done any weights (or roids for that matter to look like that? Takes a helluva lot of pull/push ups methinks.

[dogboy]

heeheh I pointed at Pablo because his diet is really notable, and is loosely based on the Gracie diet, and he adheres to it and it works for him.

Things like "The Popovitch diet follows the simple concept that you should not eat complex carbohydrates with protein in the same meal." are critically important in a true performance diet, as it allows you to have periods of peak performance to do whatever you do.

As far as his workout goes, it's actually mostly Spartan.  He flips a 500lb tire around, pushes trucks, clean jerks logs, climbs ropes with no legs, runs obstacle courses in the sand on the beach, he was an extremely decorated champion swimmer, etc. so he swims in the ocean ...just youtube him, etc. He is really a super hero when it comes to just about anything.  But he doesn't work out to look a certain way, he is all about function.

This past year, he won a total of five absolutes ('absolute' means he fights against any weight, so guys easily 30-40lbs heavier than him at times) plus 5 Weight divisions without having a single point scored against him.  That is just basically unheard of in this sport, given that he usually fights 4-5 guys in each weight class (or absolute devision).  So imagine fighting 25 or so of the best fighters in the world and they never even scored a point on him.

...that's why I said check out his diet and follow it if you can because I doubt any of us can do anything else he does:)