*** The 2012 Gym Rats Thread ***

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Well:

Sort out your diet so you are either in a deficit or a surplus
Sort out your training routine
Lift like bugger

Report progress in a few weeks. :p
 
Delvis said:
Well:

Sort out your diet so you are either in a deficit or a surplus
Sort out your training routine
Lift like bugger

Report progress in a few weeks. :p
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Maybe I haven't made it clear. I was in a deficit! My diet hasn't changed since dropping weights and going purely to cardio.

My strength certainly increased whilst training, however my fat levels and weight didnt decrease. Initially I lost weight, but then I plateaud for months with zero progress. Then as soon as I made the switch to purely cardio it started melting off again.

EDIT - Saying that, I have dropped the whey shakes, so saving maybe an extra 300kcals a day. Not sure that would make too much of a difference though.
 
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You really need to record how much you are eating. Sounds to me like you are probably close to maintenance and the cardio tipped you over into a deficit.
 
Youre going to plateau during a deficit because you can only lose so much weight on a certain amount of calories (ie going from 80kg-75kg and stopping, adjust diet to get down to 70kg), once you hit that wall, you will either need to adjust your diet so you have less calories again OR add in more cardio (as you did)

EDIT: As above!
 
LiE said:
You really need to record how much you are eating. Sounds to me like you are probably close to maintenance and the cardio tipped you over into a deficit.
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But this is the question I'm asking lol. I cant decide whether to stick on with the cardio and bring my body fat down further as it is clearly working for me, or switch up and start lifting again.
 
Sleeve88 said:
But this is the question I'm asking lol. I cant decide whether to stick on with the cardio and bring my body fat down further as it is clearly working for me, or switch up and start lifting again.
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I'd do both mate, otherwise you'll lose all the fat and have nothing underneath it (presumably)

Do a weights routine, then do some cardio at the end.
 
Sleeve88 said:
But this is the question I'm asking lol. I cant decide whether to stick on with the cardio and bring my body fat down further as it is clearly working for me, or switch up and start lifting again.
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Weights with some HIIT. Record your calories and monitor your weight loss.
 
LiE said:
Weights with some HIIT. Record your calories and monitor your weight loss.
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Ok, sound advice, but where should I be aiming with my calories?

And what sort of weights should I be lifting? Heavy and low reps or light with high reps?

Any example routines to recommend?
 
LiE said:
Have a read of this thread for some diet advice - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18299646

How many days a week do you train? I'd be leaning towards a full body workout with majority compounds lifts.
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I used to train 6 days a week. looking back on it that was completely pointless. My lifts were definitely improving and I am naturally very muscular anyway, however I made little to no improvement in muscle whilst training.

Now I'm doing gym cardio 3 days a week plus walking home from work each day which is a few miles also.
 
Sleeve88 said:
Had a few months off so cant really remember my full routine.

PB's are as follows:

Deads 160kg x 1
Bench - 110kg x 5
Squats 130kg x 5
OHP - 55kg x 5
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Sleeve88 said:
Maybe I haven't made it clear. I was in a deficit! My diet hasn't changed since dropping weights and going purely to cardio.

My strength certainly increased whilst training, however my fat levels and weight didnt decrease. Initially I lost weight, but then I plateaud for months with zero progress. Then as soon as I made the switch to purely cardio it started melting off again.

EDIT - Saying that, I have dropped the whey shakes, so saving maybe an extra 300kcals a day. Not sure that would make too much of a difference though.
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Again, you were NOT in a deficit, otherwise you would have been losing weight for longer than "initially".

Judging from the weights you're moving at your bodyweight, you are probably more like 30% bodyfat. "Naturally muscular" doesn't really mean anything either.

Get yourself into a calorie deficit, start lifting weights again, and do high intensity interval training. You won't get the look you're aiming for by bulking at this point.
 
icecold said:
Again, you were NOT in a deficit, otherwise you would have been losing weight for longer than "initially".

Judging from the weights you're moving at your bodyweight, you are probably more like 30% bodyfat. "Naturally muscular" doesn't really mean anything either.

Get yourself into a calorie deficit, start lifting weights again, and do high intensity interval training. You won't get the look you're aiming for by bulking at this point.
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Seriously listen to the above! Im sick and tired of hearing people say they are 'well built' but posting average lifts. This means you are not well built you just have dense fat which is well distributed. So you dont look like a jelly-belly but you are still 'fat'. You also have to remember that your calorie deficit may be significantly lower than the mainstream would suggest.

Myself for example, @6'2" 109kg around 15% fat, i have to drop my cals to about 1900 to lose weight, and this is considering that i spend 6-9hrs a week playing competetive level squash coupled with 4 heavy weight sessions.

YOU NEED FAR LESS CALORIES THAN U THINK!

Ive lost count of how many fat mates who swear blind they will pass out if they dont eat 5 peices of toast in a morning and some sugary cereal. Guys who wont exercise without having a 3 course meal lest they digest their own face in desperation.

Listen to what ice is telling you cos he has it spot on.
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
Ive lost count of how many fat mates who swear blind they will pass out if they dont eat 5 peices of toast in a morning and some sugary cereal.
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The best bit is there's more chance of me feeling like passing out if I do eat that rather than skip breakfast!
Gotta love that insulin spike!
 
In the similar train of thought though UE, some people can lose weight on far more calories than you would expect. Can't remember what i was taking in on my cut but it was pretty high and i was dropping weight consistently with my only real exercise being ~5 hours of gym a week.
 
According to all the kcal calculators I should be able to eat 3000kcals and maintain my weight, I don't start seeing any real loss till I'm under 2000.
Everyones different you just need to see what works for you.
 
Samesies. This is the importance of logging calories and weight for a good 2 weeks so you can establish a baseline.
BMR calculators insist I can eat 2700 or so and maintain, in reality it's about 2200-2300. But then I've got a huge deadzone from 1800-2200 where I still maintain!?
 
Fluttershy said:
In the similar train of thought though UE, some people can lose weight on far more calories than you would expect. Can't remember what i was taking in on my cut but it was pretty high and i was dropping weight consistently with my only real exercise being ~5 hours of gym a week.
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Definitely also true. If you aren't losing weight you need to lower calories, and if you aren't gaining when you want to then consume more.

I'm not suggesting that you don't understand this btw.
 
"What do you do to get bigger?"
lift weights
"but what do you do for cardio?"
lift weights, faster!

:D
 
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