J.Smitty
April 8th, 2008, 02:59 AM
First off, hello everyone. I'm excited to be here. Was reading a lot on here earlier today while waiting for my account to be activated, there's a lot of great advice and knowledgeable people on here, I'm looking forward to learning a lot from here.
In the recent weeks I have been doing a lot of reading/learning on the internet, and all that I was reading actually had me just stop working out for like a week and a half and just sort of sit, read, and prepare for the regiment that was to come. I was pretty much torn between two major bits I read:
1 - In order to truly get cut and lean, you need to do a crazy strict diet and almost nothing but cardio for a few weeks - month. I was torn on this advice because it seemed what I was reading was telling me that if I wanted to burn fat I needed to do it FIRST, then start again once I was at a lean position and build from there with proper protein/weightlifting. This sounds crazy, but it seemed from what I was reading that if you are trying to burn fat/build muscle at the same time the fat burning progress will be slow and you will be burning muscle at the same time trying to achieve to much fat loss. So I was under the impression just fat burn for a short period and get back to square one, and then start a strict muscle training / eating program and work from there.
2 - Just continue the way I am and keep eating/strength training and do cardio on alternate days and on days I work my legs. This one seemed much more sensible, but I really want to lose the excess weight on my stomach so my abs will show. I am very good at ab exercises and incorporate them into every workout I do, with exception of some days where I focus solely on situps in between reps.
So I was debating between these two and then I came here and found the ALCOHOL thread. Ohhh man did this open my eyes. I am someone who alcohol actually screws me very little. I don't get hungover and am completely able and willing to go to the gym the morning/afternoon after a night of heavy drinking. But I was stunned reading that doing cardio after drinking actually just burns muscle and no fat.
Wow.
So that might explain why I just don't make any gains in weightlifting. Sure, I get more toned a bit and muscles show a bit more, but I am still benching what I was 4-5 months ago and curling the same. Everything is roughly the same but truth be told I was not committed to a dedicated and planned out weekly routine. Before I was going 6 days a week and doing like arms one day, shoulders the next, then back, then legs, then chest, then rest, repeat. And I was going 5/6 days a week. Not leaving time for rest and recouperation, so I wasn't leaving room for gains. Then I started cutting back and going sparsely and not consistently. Now I am in a position where my body is quite good physically but I still have some excess fat on my stomach covering my abs.
So I want to learn whether I should concentrate on burning it purely or just pick up a steady consistent routine involving weight lifting 3 days a week and then two pure cardio and legs days. And my diet is simply amazing. Truly I eat more than healthy, and I'll get into that contributing in some nutrition threads. I do need to start measuring what I eat, and calculating eating specific things at different times of the day. Just eating healthy alone is not enough to make gains/progress.
Anyways, sorry for the long post. Any advice would be appreciated. I've drank the last of my Vodka tonight so I can get to an alcohol free week and will from now only drink on Sundays. Time to get back to it and start working towards this for real.
In the recent weeks I have been doing a lot of reading/learning on the internet, and all that I was reading actually had me just stop working out for like a week and a half and just sort of sit, read, and prepare for the regiment that was to come. I was pretty much torn between two major bits I read:
1 - In order to truly get cut and lean, you need to do a crazy strict diet and almost nothing but cardio for a few weeks - month. I was torn on this advice because it seemed what I was reading was telling me that if I wanted to burn fat I needed to do it FIRST, then start again once I was at a lean position and build from there with proper protein/weightlifting. This sounds crazy, but it seemed from what I was reading that if you are trying to burn fat/build muscle at the same time the fat burning progress will be slow and you will be burning muscle at the same time trying to achieve to much fat loss. So I was under the impression just fat burn for a short period and get back to square one, and then start a strict muscle training / eating program and work from there.
2 - Just continue the way I am and keep eating/strength training and do cardio on alternate days and on days I work my legs. This one seemed much more sensible, but I really want to lose the excess weight on my stomach so my abs will show. I am very good at ab exercises and incorporate them into every workout I do, with exception of some days where I focus solely on situps in between reps.
So I was debating between these two and then I came here and found the ALCOHOL thread. Ohhh man did this open my eyes. I am someone who alcohol actually screws me very little. I don't get hungover and am completely able and willing to go to the gym the morning/afternoon after a night of heavy drinking. But I was stunned reading that doing cardio after drinking actually just burns muscle and no fat.
Wow.
So that might explain why I just don't make any gains in weightlifting. Sure, I get more toned a bit and muscles show a bit more, but I am still benching what I was 4-5 months ago and curling the same. Everything is roughly the same but truth be told I was not committed to a dedicated and planned out weekly routine. Before I was going 6 days a week and doing like arms one day, shoulders the next, then back, then legs, then chest, then rest, repeat. And I was going 5/6 days a week. Not leaving time for rest and recouperation, so I wasn't leaving room for gains. Then I started cutting back and going sparsely and not consistently. Now I am in a position where my body is quite good physically but I still have some excess fat on my stomach covering my abs.
So I want to learn whether I should concentrate on burning it purely or just pick up a steady consistent routine involving weight lifting 3 days a week and then two pure cardio and legs days. And my diet is simply amazing. Truly I eat more than healthy, and I'll get into that contributing in some nutrition threads. I do need to start measuring what I eat, and calculating eating specific things at different times of the day. Just eating healthy alone is not enough to make gains/progress.
Anyways, sorry for the long post. Any advice would be appreciated. I've drank the last of my Vodka tonight so I can get to an alcohol free week and will from now only drink on Sundays. Time to get back to it and start working towards this for real.