This is aimed more for the new year as over the winter I tend to not worry so much and I've just come back from holiday so I'm not feeling so self conscious about it.

However I've just had a measurement of BF and apparently I'm sitting around 18% for my age! Which is a lot higher than I was expecting. My Subscapular and Suprailiac where higher than they should be (mid teens (in mm)).

I've never been one to be uber lean/cut but here I was thinking I was around 15% - whereas in fact I'm sitting a lot higher than I thought. I'm a fan of being bulky and "powerful" looking, and very much want to keep that, but now I've got a thought of wanting to lean up a bit and drop to at least mid teens.

I'm guessing keeping up my regular weights routine but throwing in some HIIT on non training days would work?

I've already posted my diet up and there were no negative connotations from that, so I guess it's down to the exercise side of things?

Unless you can all suggest something more effective.

Get back into playing Rugby in December and you'll lean up in no time

Just a simple case of calories in vs calories out as a starting point and then subtle tweaks with the food sources which will probably mean indulging less in the good stuff but as with everything there's always a little give and take.

What is your current training style/protocol?

As Alex said, playing rugby will lean you out, plus keep you fit and you'll have fun.

Or, you could just do some cardio when you wake and walk more during the day.

health4ni wrote:What is your current training style/protocol?

I'll list all the exercises I do, I don't do every exercise listed in every session (I rotate them) and often superset (i.e. incline DB w/ flies) and do dropsets after my final set until failure.

Chest / Bis

4 exercises of 6 sets of 6-8 reps
(flat BB, DB, incline DB, flies, dips)

Bis tend to just be 2 or 3 exercises of 8 reps
(BB curls, single arm DBs, arnie curls, EZ bar, 21s)

Legs

4 exercises 5-6 sets 6-10 reps

(back squats, front squats, SLDLs, Step ups, leg press, DLs)

Back

4 exercises of 6 sets 6-8 reps

NG Chins, WG Chins, T-Bars, BORS, Lat pull downs, DB rows, cable rows

Shoulders / Tris

4 exercises (shoulders) 6-10 reps

Powercleans, side raises (Cable or DB), arnies, standing shoulder press (DB), standing shoulder press (BB), HC2PP.

3 exercises (tris) 6-8 reps

Rope pull down, CGBP, skull crushers, french press, overhead extensions


That's pretty much a weeks worth of workout, as I said I don't do EVERY exercise listed here every session but rotate them - i.e. if I do WG chins one week, I'll do NG chins the next... Sometimes I do go mad and do too much though

As for timings, I leave myself a 90s break or so and minimum of 2s negatives and fast positives and try and do decent amount of volume.


As for Rugby, I intend on playing again, I just have a choc-a-bloc weekends for this time of the year, and it's the only time off I get at the moment and it's a struggle to get time to do anything else during the week, it does mean a good 8hrs of my saturday will be dedicated to Rugby (it's at least a 4hr round trip from where I live), so I just have to get my life back in order first. Furthermore I'm due to have laser eye surgery in 3 weeks and that'll knock me out of the game for a good month anyway.

As for running when I wake, I'm already up at 545am every day, there's no chance in hell i'm getting up any earlier! LOL! If I had a lunch break I'd go running then but I don't

Will do you take any anti catabolics?

You have a stressful job and that increases fat retention.

simon m wrote:Will do you take any anti catabolics?

You have a stressful job and that increases fat retention.

Nope.

But yes I do have a stressful job and am often stressed - find it hard to relax at times.

Cleaning up your diet will help no end, and some HIIT/complexes would be useful alongside it.

I found GBC was very effective for tripping off fat, so maybe give that a blast for 4 weeks.

Well when I posted my diet up people seemed to think it was ok. I don't have a sweet tooth so I don't eat puddings or chocolates or put sugar in tea etc... I don't like crisps and those sort of snacks. I literally have a boring but clean diet .

I'll have a look into GBC - but I guess I just need to hit a bit more cardio and some HIIT to kick start the process.

I just don't want to lose too much muscle mass.

^^ I think people are too afraid of this when dieting. If you don't go to extreme lengths you should be able to maintain or even gain muscle whilst losing fat.

I think BCAA supplementation is really important for that. 5g, 4 times a day between meals works wonders for me.

Do a Full Body training protocol for 8 weeks. Phase for 4 weeks & Phase 2 for 4 weeks.

It's far more effective at losing body fat and improving overall condition than body part splits. Leave that specialist training protocol to bodybuilders.

Do 3 weight sessions a week; Mon, Wed & Fri

Then do 20-40min conditioning sessions: skipping, kettlebell work, hill sprints.

That'll work.

If you want a prog for this then PM me.

what would you recommend scott for 3 sessions a week? in the style y ou have mentioned

Yep.

I'm currently doing that in my training right now, so have a look at my training journal. It would be different to what I'd give Will, but similar concept. Training the legs for 3 sessions a week is such a great way to increase fat burning. And build muscle.

Full body split eh? That should be fun! Only 3x a week? I guess on the other days I just do some conditioning sessions then... I'll have to dust off the skipping rope (this should be interesting! ).

I'd just sound a note of caution re 3 full body workouts as only one can be heavy lifting as the stronger you are and Will is very strong, the more careful you have to be with over exerting yourself, thereby causing an injury. So you need to choose exercises carefully.

they call him Big Will !!! go willy!

kp1512 wrote:they call him Big Will !!! go willy!

He's a big unit mate - really big!

simon m wrote:

kp1512 wrote:they call him Big Will !!! go willy!

He's a big unit mate - really big!

trust you to be looking there!

simon m wrote:I'd just sound a note of caution re 3 full body workouts as only one can be heavy lifting as the stronger you are and Will is very strong, the more careful you have to be with over exerting yourself, thereby causing an injury. So you need to choose exercises carefully.

Not true all 3 can be heavy, just need to protect the lower back.

Something like:

1. Regular ramp up in weights low reps 5ish or wave load if you want to be fancy
Front Squats
incline bench
BB rows
Hamstring curls
Calf raises and arm work done if you have time and you need it, some peoples arms grow with no direct work.

leave one day

2. go for the higher reps 8-12
Deads
flat bench or decline bench
wide grip chins
Romanian deads
arms and calf work as above
core work

leave 2 days

3. cluster sets
Back squats or leg press
power cleans
dips
core work and plenty of time on the gun show

edit: I put nothing in for side delts, add some


simples!

Craig wrote:

simon m wrote:I'd just sound a note of caution re 3 full body workouts as only one can be heavy lifting as the stronger you are and Will is very strong, the more careful you have to be with over exerting yourself, thereby causing an injury. So you need to choose exercises carefully.

Not true all 3 can be heavy, just need to protect the lower back.

Something like:

1. Regular ramp up in weights low reps 5ish or wave load if you want to be fancy
Front Squats
incline bench
BB rows
Hamstring curls
Calf raises and arm work done if you have time and you need it, some peoples arms grow with no direct work.

leave one day

2. go for the higher reps 8-12
Deads
flat bench or decline bench
wide grip chins
Romanian deads
arms and calf work as above
core work

leave 2 days

3. cluster sets
Back squats or leg press
power cleans
dips
core work and plenty of time on the gun show


simples!

Depends what you call heavy and your recovery ability.

I'd struggle to train chest or back heavy more than twice in a week

By heavy I mean heavy

Yes recovery ability is not only genetic but also learnt, the body adapts to the stress you put on it. Then again older folks seem to prefer training with less frequency and volume

Craig wrote:By heavy I mean heavy

Yes recovery ability is not only genetic but also learnt, the body adapts to the stress you put on it. Then again older folks seem to prefer training with less frequency and volume

Yes you can increase the ability, but beyond a certain weight your getting involved with tendon strength and CNS recovery and that takes longer.

As for older folk, well I'm in a terminal decline with more summers behind me than in front that's true, but as for volume, I think Alex can vouch I can match most people and considering the number of injuries I have to cope with that's pretty good.

Full body routines tend to be done for a limited period, this deals with the tendon issues. As for CNS burn out this comes from not knowing how to regulate the amount of heavy sets you do, its more a fundamental lack of knowledge than specific routine. Some people are naturaly in tune with their bodies all others should learn how to regulate their training volume when especially when doing something other than the body part split,

I'm more or less always doing FB routines and they work great for me. You can lift heavy 3 days a week with no problems if you switch up lifts/play around with rep ranges/steer clear of failure/know your body/etc etc etc.

You wont be doing heavy DL singles three times a week, but I don't see why you shouldn't be able to squat twice a week and DL once. At least not for a limited period of time.

I concur with Si, Will is a big unit.

I suspect that it's your back skin fold measurements that are bringing the overall level up to 18%. The guys seem to have the training aspect covered in this thread. Possibly try and get more sleep? Also, stop fannying around and go play rugby.