I joined a gym last week and decided to meet with a personal trainer. He asked me what my long term goal was. I replied " I want to be 200# and 8 % body fat by my 40th birthday (1-1-2009) He looked @ me and said there was no way I could do it with out anobolic steriods! Right now I'm 195#s 16% body fat, two months in on eating clean and cardio 2-3 days a week. I started @ 220# and 26% body fat.
He may be right. Maybe that goal is a little far fetched. What do you guys think?

I'm not going to say it's impossible but it certainly is unlikely.

You'll have to put on 20 pounds of LBM in 16 months while also losing 15 pounds of fat.
Let's say you go on an all out bulk and put on .5 pounds of lean mass a week. You achieve your lean body mass goals 10 months in. Now you just have to lose those 15 pounds, right? Well it isn't that easy. To facilitate that much muscle gain you'll have to be at a pretty big caloric surplus. You'll likely also put on an appreciable amount of fat during this period. You'll then have to cut for a pretty significant amount of time to get down to your desired 8% BF. In the process, you most likely will not retain all of the lean mass that you gained during your bulk.

And that's what I consider a best-case scenario. Gaining .5 pounds of lean mass a week in a linear fashion for the better part of a year probably will not happen. There will be plateaus, injuries, etc.

Not trying to bum you out, but that's what comes to mind.

Thanks George, Thats pretty much what he told me. It doesnt bum me out...I just need to re think my long term goal....mabey add another 6 months or a year to that or shoot for maybe 12% instead of 8% which he said was a little more likely but still a stretch!....Thanks for you input.

Thanks George, Thats pretty much what he told me. It doesnt bum me out...

Good. It turns out there are reasons to believe that progressing toward a fitness goal over a long time is healthier than getting quick results. Not because the quick results are unhealthy, but because if you have to work at it over a long time, then there is a better chance of having made a bigger change in your attitude and accomodations in your lifestyle for the work you have to do.

Achieving fitness goals at the age of 40 is OK, but from a health point of view the fitness goal time frame is always the same: "From now on...."