Need Help - Fat Loss and Strength

Hi there,

I’ve been lifting serioursly now for over a year, mostly using 5x5 program. First 8 months this year was stronglift’s version of 5x5, and then I switched to intermmediate bill star’s progression program.

In any case, I wanted to go on a diet to loose fat, starting jan 1st. I suppose I let myself go too much, when I started a year ago I wanted to loose some fat but wanted to also gain strength and build up. I figured if I continued working out the fat loss would happen on its own - what a mistake there.

Anyway, I did gain strength and muscle, but also some fat in additional to what I might have had already. I look at my pictures and I want to puke, need to change this right away.

I know diet is the key factor, I thought I was eating fairly clean already, but I guess I need to rethink that, or rather make the sacrifices where necessary, I pretty much know where I need to cut back. I need some help with the workout program to assist with this.

I have some muscles already - albeit covered with FAT ! - that I’d like to be able to keep during this period. Is it possible ? I was looking at Meltdown training, but not sure if I can keep up with the intensity of the program as I am not that young anymore - 36 year old - and have the time to train only right after waking at around 5AM.

I think I’d be setting myself for failure with that program. I’d like to do more cardio which should help, but can I continue doing the full body workouts of 5x5 style, or should I change that ? Any other workout recommendations ?

Take a look at Thib’s Destroying Fat program

Hi, Destroying Fat does look good. Have you tried it before ? Any recommendations on the lift selections ? I workout at home, I have power rack, one barbell set and dumbbells. I guess I’m concerned about making sure I can setup the circuit/superset training properly to make the best with the equipment I have.

It depends on how fast you want to lose. If you are starting on say January 1st you are going to want to hit it hard and fast. This would lean me towards recommending the V-Diet which is 28-days of hardcore shake only diet.

Read this article

In reference to your question about the exercises I would go:

Chest

A1. DB press
A2.DB flies
B1. weighted pull-ups
B2. Rear delt combo

Legs

A1. Squats (mhmmm)
A2. Dumbell Lunges
B1. Romain Deadlift
B2. Glute ham raise

Circuits

Horizontal pushing exercise - Barbell bench
Quads-dominant exercise - Hack Squat
Horizontal pulling exercise - Bent row
Hamstrings-dominant exercise - Snatch grip dead
Abdominal exercise - roll out
Vertical pulling exercise - upright row
Vertical pushing exercise - military press
Biceps exercise - zottman curl
Calves exercise - sled pulls
Triceps exercise - narrow grip bench
Shoulder isolation - arnold press

hope that helps
Shoulder isolation exercise

Thanks, I was thinking about V-Diet, and on one side I totally see myself making good progress with that, I prefer the extremes…but, on the other hand my family and work will not align well with that diet. I know, I’m probably just whining here, but I’m just trying to be realistic with it.

I used Destroying Fat while on the V-Diet, it worked very well, but if I had to do it again I would go with a less extreme diet off the bat, like the T-Dawg or AD diet. The exercises I used are below. I did not include the optional third circuit.

Chest

A1. DB press
A2.DB flies
B1. Upright Rows
B2. Seated Rows

Legs

A1. Squats
A2. Front Squats
B1. Deadlift
B2. Good Mornings

Circuits
Push up
Split Squat
1-arm dumbbell row
Step-ups
Serratus Crunch

Military Press
Stationary Lunge
Lat pulldown
Waiter’s Bow
Saxon Side Bend

Ok, just need a clarification. In the article CT says to do main A1 then accessory A2 then take a break and do B1 main and B2 accessory, then take a break and start over from A1. But in the forums I saw people saying that CT corrected this as it should be A1 main then B1 main, break, then repeat until all done for main exercises.

After that do the accessory A2, then B2, rest and start over from A2 until all sets completed. Ie. in this order:

Bench x 5
Row x 5
rest, then repeat 4 times

Flies x 5
Seated Row x 5
rest, then repeat 4 times

Also, I suppose I’ll need to experiment with the weigths, I assume something of 70-80% 5RM would be appropriate. So if my bench is 210x5, then I’d go with around 160lb and see how that feels.

I actually did the program as written, it does in fact work (I was fairly new to lifting, so I wasn’t moving super heavy weight), although the clarification does make sense. I would not drop the weight. If your 5 rep max is 210, then stick with 210 and go for 5 sets. The whole point of the 5x5 workouts is to maintain strength and muscle mass while in a caloric deficit, so you want to go as heavy as you can.

Interesting Ninja, did you have a PWO shake as well when you did the ciruits?

no, just after the heavy sets. I did a lot of cycling and soccer when I was younger, so I have fairly good recovery.

Work your legs out a bit more

Make sure you do your cardio, and monitor your macronutrient intake. You do not need the saturated fat to be honest.
Try to limit carbs as well. The Anabolic Diet does not even feature carbs!

Diet is pretty darn important.

Take some supplements like carnitine and lecithin.
There are numerous supplements and stacks that can help trigger fat loss and effective fat oxidation.
Just do a bit of research and find whatever suits you best.

Good luck

[quote]FaPsTER wrote:
Work your legs out a bit more

[/quote]

What do you mean ? I already squat 3xweek, plus do other stuff that hits legs some. With the Destroying Fat I’m planning to keep doing the bp/row and squat/dl variations. Or do you mean my legs don’t look good, or that maybe working legs harder somehow will help in the fat loss ? I thought my legs well pretty much best part of my body :frowning:

All this talk about diet and no posts about what your actually eating…

Ok, I didn’t think I needed to go more in detail here on my diet, the subject I was going after here was a good workout program to assist with my fat loss period that I want to get serious on starting in the new year. But, why the heck not, I posted something similar last year when I started lifting. If I stayed with that diet I probably wouldn’t have the issue now, instead I derailed some as I wanted to gain more muscle/mass and even though tried to eat “clean”, I wasn’t very consistent, and barely did my cardio…So here it is:

Workout 5:00-6:20 AM
Meal 1: During workout 20g Whey protein + 5g Creatine mixed with water
Meal 2: 6:25AM Surge 2 scoops, coffe 16oz 30 min later
Meal 3: 8:30AM yogurt + banana
Meal 4: 11:15AM Tuna(2 cans with some celery/cucumbers)or Smoked fish, or cold cuts with wraps
Meal 5: 1:30PM Salad with chicken or eggs or chickpeas
Meal 6: 2:30PM Either handful of mixed nuts or fruit/apple/pear/banana/etc
Meal 7: 5:30PM Dinner - Will need to make sure to stay away from carbs here, chicken with veggies, salmon, burgers (no bread)
Meal 8: 8:00PM Snacking on veggies or fruits, maybe a protein shake with water here
Sleep 11:00PM

On non-heavy-lifting and cardio days Meal 1 and 2 would be combined to a protein shake (after cardio).

Meal 3 = How much yoghurt ie protein? Is it full fat?

Meal 5 = No dressing I hope :slight_smile: Olive oil = good though

Meal 8 = Look at this thread in figure athlete
http://www.figureathlete.com/readTopic.do?id=2147277

The “Free veggies” should give you a good idea on what to snack on. I would try and avoid fruit, except if you are in a deficit from your deficit.

Errata = What goes into the protein shake?
Is it Surge or just Wheyx2

[quote]echelon101 wrote:
Meal 3 = How much yogurt ie protein? Is it full fat?
[/quote]
This is the low fat version, plain no fruit, I think there is like 8g protein.

Yup, extra virgin only

[quote]
The “Free veggies” should give you a good idea on what to snack on. I would try and avoid fruit, except if you are in a deficit from your deficit.[/quote]

Yeah, I love fruit, and soem of that sweetness helps with the sweat toth as well. Will try to stick with veggies for most part.

[quote]
Is it Surge or just Wheyx2[/quote]
Yeah, this is just whey (24g of protein/scoop), I use dymatize brand as I like their flavors, mixes well and can get them at slight discount sometimes.

[quote]henryd31 wrote:
echelon101 wrote:
Meal 3 = How much yogurt ie protein? Is it full fat?

This is the low fat version, plain no fruit, I think there is like 8g protein.

[/quote]

Everything in between looks fine

I assume 120kcals per serving? On non-lifting days put the fruit you would normally have in the evening here. Better to get the energy up early on in the day than just snacking later on. Also unless you make the shake quite thick by itself is going to be pretty “light”.

Have you considered taking any fish oil?

Also what are your total kcals and protein total?

[quote]echelon101 wrote:
henryd31 wrote:
echelon101 wrote:
Also unless you make the shake quite thick by itself is going to be pretty “light”.
[/quote]
Adding flax seeds will make it thicker, and give you some extra fiber.

My total calories on heavy-lifting days comes out to around 2,200 and the other days to about 1,800 (no Surge). I’m slightly over 5’10" at 200lb now. Also, I got HOT-ROX Extreme so I plan to use it during the first 30 days, in addition I have the generic/Nature’s fish oil capsules at 1,200mg each, and plan to take 2-3 of those daily. How does that look ?

Ok, I tried Destroying Fat workout for the first time today. To keep the things rolling I had to resolve to following:

BP Press 5x5x185lb
DB Flies 5x5x35lb

DB Row 5x5x65lb
DB One-hand row 5x5x60lb

I did it with first completing first set of pressing, 90s rest, then complete set of each row and then went back to presses, did this for 5 sets. Now, I couldn’t handle the weights higher then 185lb after two sets, I started with 200lb and then went to 195lb and ended up with 185lb. It could be because I haven’t done flat bench press for 7 weeks - was concentrating on incline in this time.

Anyhow, I’m sweating like a pig and the workout was rather short. So far so good, we’ll see how the other ones wil turn out. This week is trying to set everything up before I can fully concentrate on this for 6 weeks or so.