That's not too much to ask is it! This was one of my major goals set at the start and I achieved this by keeping my training journal up to date each day. I would write my mental state, which was usually always positive , my food intake for the day and the timing, and also how my training went.
Each weights session had strength goals set for it, even a couple of reps more was enough to satisfy me, as long as each session I was moving into new strength territories then I knew things were going in the right direction. I would concentrate on the compound exercises for the major exercises, re-introducing Military Presses, Stiff-Legged Deadlifts and the Flat Bench Press, which I hadn't done for years due to an old shoulder injury. I hadn't trained more than three times per week with weights since and with my motivation being high I decided to follow a 4-way training split to see how my body responded to that.
Below is my routine:. As you can see I designed my workouts to incorporate more arm work. The reason for this is that my arms have always been a weak point for me. I have been conscious in the past to not overtrain them, and always followed a low volume, high intensity, and just once per week arm work routine.
But my arms never really improved. I noticed that my arms recovered fast after hard workouts, and when I train chest and back I'm good at feeling just those muscles and not really incorporating too much biceps and triceps as a lot of people do. Even when I do weighted chins or heavy rows I feel my back more than my biceps, which is the way it's supposed to be.
So, I wondered if I was actually 'under-training' my arms. I found this method productive as I maintained my arms size through the weight loss, and now they actually look more muscular. In addition to this my strength increased consistently. My aerobic work consisted mainly of cycling to work and to the gym.
This took me 30 minutes each time and was up and down hills, so I got a bit of interval training along the way. I don't really enjoy doing aerobic work in the gym and find it boring, so this was perfect as I had a destination to get to and couldn't stop half way due to boredom or tiredness like you can do in the gym. Before I did the challenge I thought I knew a lot about bodybuilding nutrition.
I am now amazed at how much I didn't know. I read many articles on bodybuilding. Previously, when I dieted I ate the same foods and same quantities all the time. This time I changed things up, I would have 2 days of lower carbs approx. The change in daily diet also helped prevent the diet from getting too mundane.
This worked really well, as my body couldn't get completely adjusted to the same amounts and this allowed me to slowly lose weight without hitting any stale patches.
Previously I didn't really fully understand the true benefits of eating healthy fats such as; natural peanut butter, olive oil, canola oil and flaxseed oil. I now realize that these fats are actually good for you, can be a great source of energy when your eating low carbs and have numerous health benefits including lowering your blood pressure.
I have now incorporated these into my diet all year round. There are some informative articles on bodybuilding. I've known about the 'window of opportunity' post workout for some years now. Where the body is in an optimum position to absorb the carbs and protein ingested following a hard workout. Allowing a higher rate of recovery and growth. However, only during the BFL Challenge did I find out the updated research into this area of pre- and post-workout nutrition and supplementation.
In order to maximize my training performance and recovery time I would follow the plan below:. From what I read the body can absorb a lot of the nutrients from these foods much more efficiently post-workout, so you can take in a good amount of calories and still lose body fat consistently.
Also, by taking in the carbs and protein before your workout your body has fuel to burn during your session rather than hitting empty half way through your training. They recommend that you actually take in a third of your daily calorie intake within the time span of 30 minutes before and up to 3 hours after your workout in order to maximize your gains.
With this in mind I admitted to myself that in order to stay on my diet in the long run I would need to allow myself a cheat twice per week at the start.
For the first 6 weeks, I had a cheat meal on a Wednesday and Saturday. This made the process of following the diet the rest of the week much more manageable. As I became mentally stronger and adjusted to the healthy eating I was able to cut back the cheats to just once per week.
By the end of the three months I was really enjoying my healthy food and was amazed how tasty 'good' food can taste when you eliminate junk food. I think it's the way you function better when following a healthy eating schedule that makes a real bodybuilding diet easier to follow.
When the diet comes to an end and normal calorie intake is restored, the individual starts to gain weight even faster than before. This is known as yo-yo dieting. Diets that focus exclusively on calorie reduction often fail in this way Template:Fact.
With these concerns in mind, Body for Life addresses energy expenditure i. For best results, Body for Life holds that this exercise should include weight training to build skeletal muscle and increase the metabolism over the long term. This also helps to maximise the energy expenditure and fat loss from aerobic exercise. Body for Life's exercise program is more complicated than its diet program. It suggests exercising six days a week, normally Monday to Saturday, and alternating between weight training and aerobic exercise.
The seventh day, usually Sunday, is a rest day. Weight training sessions alternate between exercises for the upper body and exercises for the lower body. This allows the exercised muscles enough time to recover fully before the next training session. Body for Life uses Gunnar Borg's Rating of Perceived Exertion known as the Borg scale for assessing the intensity of exercise based on how hard you feel you are working.
It uses the variant developed by the American College of Sports Medicine , which uses a scale of 0 to These levels accommodate differences in fitness. An unfit individual may require a level 10 effort to walk briskly uphill, whereas for a competitive athlete this may only be a level 3 effort. Over the course of the week Body for Life program an individual would get noticeably fitter, so their intensity scale needs to be adjusted over time.
This is considered normal. Body for Life uses a "wave" pattern, periodically building up from level 5 to level 9 or 10 during an exercise session. This allows the muscles to warm up, and gives the body a chance to build up to a "high point" of maximal exertion.
Brief but intense exercise provides maximum stimulus for the body to build strength and endurance , but without the risk of overtraining. Most of these exercise can be performed using either dumbbells , a barbell , a Smith machine , a cable machine with adjustable pulleys or a specially-designed apparatus. Two exercises should be chosen for each muscle group.
Five sets of the first exercise are performed, and then one set of the second. Weights for each set should be chosen so that the specified number of repetitions can be achieved at the specified level of intensity. For example:. Weight training sessions proceed at a brisk pace, with one minute of rest between the first four sets for a muscle group, and no rest between the final two sets. The cadence for each repetition should be one second to lift the weight while exhaling deeply , one second holding it at the top, two seconds to lower the weight while inhaling deeply and then one second pausing before the next repetition.
Each session should be completed within about 45 minutes. Most forms of aerobic exercise are suitable. Common choices include walking or running perhaps on a treadmill , cycling , swimming , or the use of a rowing machine or cross-trainer.
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