Charting Progress

So, you are following a good diet, you do cardio and train with weights. But are you getting anywhere? This is the question that so many people just don't ask themselves. They keep on doing what they have been doing for years and then say something to the effect that nothing works.

Hence, a very important component of a fitness regimen is getting constant feedback in terms of your weight, measurements, photographs, clothing size and most importantly body fat percentage and skinfold thickness. Ideally, you should check your weight and composition every week and observe some improvement. If you are following your regimen just right you should loose between 1 to 2 pounds per week. If you did not loose or instead the weight increased, examine your past week to make sure you actually followed the program, more likely than not you slipped. In that case, don't see it as failure but as valuable feedback about how much "cheating" is too much for your body. Tighten your belt and get set for the next week.

Depending on your weekly observation if you find that you have really hit a fat loss plateau you can try one of these or a combination of these: decrease calories, tweak the macronutrient ratio, meal frequency or timing, increase the duration, frequency or intensity of cardio, change the kind or timing of cardio, incorporate HIIT and if nothing works do double cardio (twice a day). So, unless you have tried all these the excuse that nothing works is lame.

The ultimate lesson of the whole process is simple: each individual is different and you have to find your program for yourself by doing a little experimentation. If someone tells you that you can eat exactly this and workout exactly that you will get your perfect physique then he or she is trying to hoodwink you (or they don't know any better). Also, there are "programs" which tell you that all the fat loss can be achieved by using their magic product and working out for 20 minutes a day because they know that "easy" sells. But ask yourself, if it was all that easy why don't you see a lot more fit people around?

My advice, get into fitness only if you can give it some priority and incorporate it in your lifestyle. If you want to do it for only 2 months your time would probably be better spent elsewhere. Hit the gym with passion and a clear sense of your goal, commit to your program and the results would astound you!

Weight Training

Let me begin by saying that book extending over volumes have been written on the subject of weight training so try as I may I cannot cover a lot on a blog. I will try to stick to the most important points in my opinion and even then it's gonna be a longish post. First of all, weight training is an essential component of a fat loss regimen. The view that one should do cardio for first couple months to loose the fat and then start weight training is bogus at best and disastrous at worst. Weight training (combined with a good diet) is the thing that keeps your muscle intact when you are on a fat loss program. Also, muscle being an active tissue burns calories even at rest and not to forget the post workout metabolic boost provided by weight training. In essence, your fat loss program is incomplete without weight training.

Now, on to the bullets:

1. Duration: I suggest 45 minutes to 1 hour and not more than that (beginner or advance). Excessive workout leads to overtraining and injury, I personally overtrained for more than a year with very slow results and also managed to injure myself a couple times. Even if you bubbling with enthusiasm, take things easy coz when it comes to weight training it's said "Less is more".

2. Frequency: This one depends on your experience and goals. For a beginner or for a guy concerned with general fitness and an alright amount of muscle 3 days a week is a good option. As you progress or modify your goals to put on more muscle you can add a 4th or a 5th day. Yup, you don't need to push weights 6 days a week to get in a good shape. In fact, it's the rest time when your muscle recover from the hell you put them through during the workout.

Here's a quick guideline for frequency: for beginners it's three workouts per week on nonconsecutive days, full body each workout. For intermediate, it's three or four workouts per week on two day split routine; half the body one day, half the next (each muscle group worked no more than twice per week). For advanced, it's four or five days per week, on a three or four day split routine, each muscle group worked once every five to seven days.

3. Variations: Stands for types of exercise per muscle group. Quick guideline being:

For beginner: One exercise per muscle group/full body routine.

For intermediate: Two exercises per muscle group/ two day split

For advanced: Three(four) exercises per muscle group/three(four) day split

4. Sets: Stands for number of times you do a particular variation and depends on size of the muscle group. Smaller muscle groups (like biceps or triceps) can be exhausted by lesser number of sets as opposed to larger muscle groups (like back or chest). A thumb rule of 3-4 sets per variation works in most cases and depending on the muscle group you can add an extra variation later.

5. Repetitions: There is a lot of back and forth here from 1 rep max to 20-25 reps and the number also varies with your goal. Without going into the philosophy of the spectrum here's a quick guideline based on goals:

Strength/Power: 1 – 5 reps

Hypertrophy (size) & some strength: 6 - 12 reps

Local endurance/ little size: 12-20 reps

Abs & Calves: 10-25 reps

4. Rest: The idle time between sets. No, you are not supposed to strike up a conversation after one set! One minute is the rest duration you can't go wrong with however for maximal fat loss 20-45 sec. is still better. You can squeeze a little more rest (up to 2 minutes) for large muscle groups or for very heavy workouts.

5. Progressive overload: I need not say this but you ought to train hard in the gym and push yourself while you are there. I see people lifting the same weight they did 2 years back or talking away on cellphone while cycling and they get nowhere. Having said that, you need not train to failure (point when you can't do another rep) all the time. The key is challenging your muscles in new ways, pushing them a little more than the last time.

Progressive overload is just that, you start with a weight that you can do 8 reps with. Next time you hit the gym, you try to do 9 reps with the same weight and so on. Once you can do 12 reps, put that weight down and pick up a heavier one and do 8 reps and so on. You get the idea! Now, this process is not always as neat and arithmetic as in the example. Sometimes you wouldn't be able to do one more rep, you may even do one less rep but the aim should be on progression and it can work as one step back and two steps forward. Besides there are myriads of variations once you feel you hit a bad plateau on a particular exercise.

6. Choice of exercises: Again, people go so fancy with their exercises without knowing the basics. They'll try spider curl and zottman curl before getting simple barbell curls. Suggestion: choose basic exercises in the beginning and only once you have a good form try something else. Anyways, it's the basic compound exercises that are the best.

7. Split routine: Concerns about how to group body parts for workout. Here are some examples:

Beginner’s workout: Full body workout

1. Bench press with dumbbells, barbell or machine (chest)

2. Dumbbell side lateral raise (shoulders)

3. One arm dumbbell row or lat machine pull down (upper back)

4. Dumbbell extension behind head (triceps)

5. Dumbbell Bicep curl (biceps)

6. Leg extension or lunge (thighs)

7. Standing calf raise (calves)

8. Lying leg curl (hamstrings)

9. Crunches (abs)

Intermediate workout: Two day split

Day 1: Chest, Shoulder, Triceps, Abs

1. Flat Bench Press: dumbbell, barbell or machine (chest)

2. Incline Dumbbell flyes or pec deck flye machine (chest)

3. Seated Dumbbell or machine overhead press (shoulders)

4. Dumbbell side lateral raise (shoulders)

5. Tricep Pushdown (triceps)

6. Overhead tricep extension with dumbbell (triceps)

7. Crunches (abs)

8. Reverse Crunches (abs)

Day 2: Legs, Back, Biceps, calves

1. Leg Press machine (quads)

2. Leg extension machine (quads)

3. Lying Leg Curl (hamstrings)

4. Low back extension/hyperextension (lower back/hamstrings)

5. Pull-ups or lat pulldowns (lats/upper back)

6. Seated Cable Rows (lats)

7. Barbell curl (biceps)

8. Seated alternating dumbbell curl (biceps)

9. Standing Calf Machine (calves)

10. Seated Calf Machine (calves)

As you advance, you can go to 3 day or 4 day splits but a 2 day split gives wonderful results itself and you can stick to it for life.

That about sums up what I can say here. Other "concerns" like, "I don't do much weights as I don't wanna bulk up", "You need to do 500 crunches everyday to get good abs", "You need 25 reps per set to get definition", "Don't do weights if you wanna keep your flexibility", "It's all good now but once you stop the muscle will turn to fat", "How can I make time for all this from my busy schedule", etc. are either myths or excuses arising from lack of knowledge and action. You can either debate or get your ass to the gym.

To conclude, here's what I did. In the very beginning (1.5 years back) I was on a full body workout, 3 days a week. Within a couple months I grew out of it finding it too easy. I then jumped into some real heavy workouts (counterproductive overtraining). In February 2010, I came back to my senses and stuck to 2 day splits, 3 days a week. Then in June, by which time I had already improved a lot, I started doing the same routine 4 days a week. I warm-up and stretch before workouts and do a non-fatiguing set (which is not counted as workout but muscle group warm-up) for each muscle group before heavier ones. Rest interval is 45 secs. and I adhere to progressive overload. I change my workout every month or two to avoid adaptation and to employ the "muscle confusion" technique! That's about it... Now go push some weights!

Cardio

Now that you have a diet plan in order it's time to hit the gym! The mantra is simple if you create a larger calorie deficit you'll loose more weight. The thing is most people get that to some extent but the way they go about it is by eating less. What they fail to account for is that human body is a result of millions of years of evolution and it knows to slow things down in case of low calorie intakes. So, the way to go about creating a deficit should be by working out more. As counterintutive as it may seem, you'll loose fat faster if you eat more and workout more. The two are synergistic, eating frequently (5-6 time a day) boosts your metabolism and so does working out. Having clarified that let's spend a moment on what exactly is cardio:

"an activity that’s rhythmical in nature, involves large muscle groups (namely your legs or back), and, here's the kicker - can be sustained continuously for long periods of time (at least 20 - 30 minutes)"

Running, bicycling, stair climbing, rowing and elliptical exercise are some examples of cardio. Other queries which people generally have regarding cardio include:

1. Duration: For maximal fat loss you should do 30-60 minutes of cardio per session. Less than 30 minutes is too little and more than 60 minutes is edging on overtraining. If you really wanna do more than 60 minutes then the suggestion is to do double cardio (i.e. twice a day) but for most people 30-60 minutes will give good results. The thing to keep in mind is your goal, if you just want to maintain your weight (or bulk up), 20-30 minutes cardio is also sufficient.

2. Frequency: If your goal is fat loss, 4-6 days a week of cardio is required for good results. Enthusiasts can add a 7th day but sustaining it for long time periods is tough to say the least. For maintanance and bulking 3-4 days is sufficient.

3. Time: When the hell should you do your cardio? In the morning? Before weight training? After it? And so on... People can go on rambling about the findings! Most important thing though is that you should do cardio and not just debate. Doing it anytime burns calories so you get leaner everytime you finish your session. That being settled, morning fasted cardio (without eating anything) is probably very good. I say probably because there's arguments for and against the idea. I personally tried it but found it so damn difficult that I was back to my post weight training cardio in two weeks. If you can hit the gym in 5-10 minutes after you wake up, it's worth a shot otherwise hunger kicks in bad and it gets a lot tougher. Post weight training cardio is next best, your glycogen levels are low so more calories are burnt from fat.

4. Intensity: Phew!!! This one is even more controversial. The two schools are low intensity long duration cardio and high intensity short duration. After a lot of back and forth with jargon what I synthesized is if you do cardio at higher intensity you burn more calories plus your metabolism gets a better kick so that's what I adhere to. By high intensity I mean 75-85% of your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR). A great technical variation is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) wherein you have work intervals when you push yourself to 85% or even above of your MHR followed by rest intervals to catch your breath. By the way, a simple empirical formula for MHR is (220-age). So that a 20 year old guy should aim for 150-170 heartbeats per minute. Though many cardio machines have some sort of heart rate monitor, buying your own will be a great investment. I bought mine off amazon for 33$ and they are one of the best 33$ that I spent. I now know throughout my cardio if I am slouching or being overzealous.

One concern that many people seem to express is that they would loose muscle if they do cardio. The truth is you may loose some muscle doing cardio but you are much more likely to loose muscle if you don't eat frequently or don't include protein in every meal. As long as you are eating right it's unlikely that you'll loose much muscle. Once you reach your desired fat levels you can switch to moderate cardio, this also helps avoid overtraining and adaptation.

Let me conclude with my cardio regimen. I do HIIT (1 minute work, 1 minute rest interval) cardio six days a week close to 85% MHR. On my weight training day, it's 35 minutes post workout and on dedicated cardio days it's 45 minutes. My weapons of choice are elliptical and stationary bicycle in succesion (with no break in between), I am less of a runner because of the high impact nature of the exercise (combined with dancing it gave me shin splints). This routine works for me, you can start slow and reach your own optimal point using the above guidelines and a little hit and trial.

Diet

I hope you took the time to write down your goals. Now lets move on to arguably the most important factor to consider when aiming for overall fitness: nutrition. Although I myself would generally use the term "diet", nutrition is a better descriptor as "diet" inherently indicates something which you do for a short period of time. Good nutrition on the other hand ought to be a life long habit.

The first step in designing a good diet is to know how much your body really needs. Yes, I am talking about calorie counting. If you think that's too extreme then let me tell you that a majority of people fail to get optimal results because they have no idea of how many calories they are actually consuming. It's a habit that will take a little time to develop but it will help you for life. You can find online calorie counter for most food items (like thecaloriecounter.com), also packaged product have their nutritional information printed for anyone who cares to read.

In order to calculate your daily calorific need use the Harris-Benedict formula to find your Basal Metabolism Rate (BMR) first:

BMR (Men) = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)

BMR (Women) = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

So, for a 24 years old guy who is 176 cm. tall and weighs 62 kg. the BMR would be 1632.

Now, multiply your BMR by your activity factor to find out your daily calorific needs. Activity factor is given for different cases as:

Sedentary = 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)

Lightly active = 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)

Moderately active = 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)

Highly active = 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)

Extremely Active = 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2 X day training, marathon, football camp,contest, etc.)

Such that if the guy in the example is visiting the gym 5 days a week and working out for an hour (A.F. = 1.55) he needs 2530 calories to maintain his current weight. If he wants to cut down, a deficit of 15-20% is suggested (a heuristic figure is 500 calories deficit). He would be ill advised to cut down calories too much as in such a case starvation response would kick in and his metabolism would plummet. For bulking he should go in a similar calorific surplus.

Now that you know how many calories you need, it's time to decide on your macronutrient ratio (Protein, Carbohydrates and Fat). I started with 30-50-20 which is a good starting point for most people. For a 2200 calories diet this translates to 660, 1100 and 440 calories for protein, carbs and fat respectively. A set of handy relations for gm. to calorie conversion is:

1 gm. protein = 4 calories

1 gm. carb = 4 calories

1 gm. fat = 9 calories

(fun fact: 1 gm/ml of alcohol = 7 calories, huh!)

You can now convert your calorific requirements to requirement in gm.

Heading towards the conclusion, let me present the algorithm for diet design:

Step 1: Choose a lean protein for every meal.

Step 2: Choose a starchy carbohydrate for every meal.

Step 3: Choose your simple carbohydrates for your breakfasts.

Step 4: Choose your fibrous carbs for your lunches and dinners.

Step 5: Add essential fats if insufficient quantities are present in your foods.

Step 6: Count your meal subtotals and grand totals.

Step 7: Compare your totals to your calorie target and adjust the serving sizes.

Step 8: Assign a time for each meal.

Here lean proteins include different meats, seafood and low fat dairy products. Starchy carbohydrates include oats, potatoes, carrots, daals, beans, brown rice and whole grain products. Simple carbs are your fruits and 100% fruit products. Fibrous carbs include green veggies, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. Essential (mono and poly unsaturated fatty acids) include nuts, virgin olive oil, natural peanut butte and fish fat.

Time for an example I guess. Here's what I have been eating for close to 5 months now:

Required Intake = 2200 calories

Breakup = 500, 500, 400, 400, 400

Food source (serving size) - calories protein(gm.) carbs(gm.) fat(gm.)

1. Milk (500 ml.) - 185.0 17.0 24.5 2.5

Oats (35 gm.) - 136.0 5.3 22.0 3.0

Banana (1 = 100 gm.) - 105.0 1.2 26.7 0.6

Almonds (9 = 10.8 gm.) - 63.0 2.7 1.8 5.4

Sweetener

Total - 489.0 26.2 75.0 11.5 (approx. 20-60-20)

2. Chicken Breast (100 gm.) - 176.0 31.6 0.0 4.6

Lentils (1 cup ckd.) - 230.0 18.0 40.0 0.0

Cucumber (1 = 300 gm.) - 45.0 2.0 10.9 0.3

Total - 451.0 51.6 50.9 4.9 (approx. 45-45-10)

3. Whey (1 scoop) - 130.0 24.0 4.0 1.5

W. W. Bread (2 slices) - 120.0 3.8 24.0 1.0

Peanut butter (1 tbsp.) - 100.0 3.5 3.5 8.0

Tomato (3 = 186 gm.) - 39.0 1.5 8.7 0.6

Total - 389.0 32.8 40.2 11.1 (approx. 34-41-25)

4. Eggs (6 whites, 1 whole) - 177.0 27.3 2.4 5.0

Potato (1000/7 gm.) - 124.0 2.4 28.6 0.1

Carrots (1000/7 gm.) - 58.0 1.3 13.7 0.3

Cauliflower (150 gm.) - 37.5 3.0 8.0 0.2

Total - 396.0 34.0 52.7 5.6 (approx. 35-53-12)

5. Shrimps (84 gm.) - 90.0 17.2 0.8 1.5

Lentils (1 cup ckd.) - 230.0 18.0 40.0 0.0

Cabbage (2 cup) - 56.0 4.0 11.6 0.8

Peanuts (10 gm.) - 34.0 1.4 1.3 2.9

Total - 410.0 40.6 53.7 5.2 (approx. 40-53-12)

GRAND TOTAL - 2135.0 185.2 272.5 38.3 (approx. 34-50-16)

As you can see, I also employed calorie tapering (reducing calories later in the day) which is a strong technique for weight (fat) loss. Sweetener is left blank coz when making this I was unsure whether I should go for artificial sweetener. The problem is that most sweetener contain either aspartame or sucralose as sweetening agent and both are a bit controversial as to their effect on health (I read somewhere that a possible side effect is death!). So, Indian friends lets just stick with sugar, American friends can try agave nectar or date sugar.

Last but not the least, I understand that this diet looks bland and tasteless but hey you can try with different spices. Add chopped onions, lemon or some herbs to improve the taste. Once or twice a week go ahead and satisfy your urges, eat whatever you want (it's your cheat day!). Reward yourself with a little pizza or brownie if you achieved your weekly but do not over-indulge! As you progress you might have to cut from two to one cheat meal but that shouldn't be an excuse for not starting altogether!

That's about it without getting into vague details and metabolic mechanisms (most of which I don't remember myself). Hope this will help you develop a habit of eating healthy and making better choices when it comes to diet.

Goal Setting

Alright lets start with the recipe now. It can be summed up as this: "right food, right workout and rest". Simple enough! To be honest it is simple and I'm gonna say this for the umpteenth time: the recipe is simple, it's following it that takes effort. I'll start with the not-so-known component I hinted about earlier known as "Goal Setting".

This is an exercise which many of us might find cheesy. It's about having clearly defined goal written on paper. I thought that it was a pointless hassle for I thought I knew what I wanted when it comes to fitness but the fact is unless we have clear written goals we are sailing blind. Here's few things to keep in mind when setting goals:

1. Goals must be specific and objective/measurable: A goal like "I want to loose 5 kg." fits the bill but a goal like "I want to be slimmer" can hardly be propelling. A note here, weight loss goals actually have a catch as they don't take into account where you loose the pounds from. No one would want to loose 5 kg. of muscle so it's better to rephrase the goal in terms of fat loss or body composition (aiming for say 10% body fat).

2. Goal must be big yet realistic: Don't go for excuses like "I am just starting how can I hope to gain 2 kg. in a month." Unless your goals are challenging you would subconsciously be going easy in the gym. You need to make each workout count so challenge yourself. At the same time you don't want an unrealistic goal that you are already convinced of not achieving; balance is the key.

3. Goals must have some emotional reasons: I bland goal like "I want to loose 5 kg. in 2 months" is not nearly as powerful as "I want to loose 5 kg. by September (so that I can impress my girlfriend)." Ask why you want what you want, associate feelings and phrase your goals accordingly.

4. Goals must not be conflicting: Though this should be obvious it took me more than a year to come to terms with the fact that I cannot gain muscles and loose fat simultaneously. For gaining muscles you have to be in calorific surplus and for loosing fat in calorific deficit, they clearly don't go together. It is however possible to achieve this goal (using something called the "zig zag method") but that would be slower and much more demanding than a bulking-cutting cycle.

You are now ready to write down your goals. Write them in a personal tone, in present tense (as if you have already achieved them) and using positive words (all of this has to do with how subconscious processes information). Keep them in front of you so that you can see them everyday. Here are the goals I wrote (and achieved) for myself:

8th February: "I am so happy and thankful for my lean body after shedding 6 kg. of fat by May."

8th May: "I am so glad now that my fat percentage is 8 and I can see definition on my abs."

Journey

This story begins the day I was born... Neah, just messing with you, wouldn't want to torture a poor soul with irrelevance! It actually began in the summer of 2007 during my internship at Clemson University. I stepped into the fitness center there and was hit by a wave of motivation when I saw people working passionately to reach their fitness goals. And that was the first time I lifted weights. Was it easy to begin with? Hell no! The challenge was not just physical; imagine my plight struggling with 15 pounds when a girl standing next to be is curling 25. I carried on anyways and was surprised to see how fast the improvement came (at least initially)! I felt alright, I was still packing fat but I was happy with the fact that I was making an effort. Here's how I looked during that time (And I dare not take my shirt off back then):

I came back to college determined that I would stick to my newly acquired healthy ways. No points for guessing that I fell off the wagon. It's surprising how easy it is to find excuses for missing workout. I tried starting a couple times and soon realized that the environment wasn't as conducive here and that I needed a gym buddy who was equally if not more serious. So I started again sometime in October 2008, this time with another fanatic Sidhant. With whatever information we could synthesize from the big dark online world we chalked out a schedule which served us well for the months to come. It was targeting one body part per day while cycling through new workouts every month or so to utilize the famous "muscle confusion" technique. I felt I had bigger biceps and chest, I noticed a little improvement on legs and on back but tummy, phew, it was there to stay! Here's me during convocation with all the baby fat:

I then came to Bangalore determined yet again to continue and failing yet again to stick to the resolution. But this time motivation wasn't a problem, time was! After spending 10 hours in the office and another on the road, my body will give me all sorts of excuses for just lying down and start watching a hundred episode tv series. I dragged myself to the gym in September and things clicked, unlike college where you could hardly find a regular goer here I saw people who looked like they took things seriously enough. I started with three days of weights and six days of cardio. Weight training was a fully body routine, that is I would do one exercise (3 sets) for each body part. Cardio was 70 minutes on dedicated days and 20 minutes on weight training days. Results were fast: from 74 kg. I came down to 65 kg. in a matter of 4 months. And yet, the tummy wouldn't go! I thought this was it, resistance seemed futile, for if this much of workout didn't chip the fat, it seemed nothing will. That, of course, was ignorance! The conventional diet which most of us live on is highly unlikely to take you there. It took me another year to realize this and though I religiously continued, the results were far too slow. I asked my gym trainers and they were as clueless (they wouldn't admit though and would try and inundate you with jargon), some of them had good bodies but they just "had" it, they didn't know how they can help others to get there. In the mean time I gave up on cardio (the boring tiring enterprise as it was) and stuck only with weights. Here's a pic (admittedly matrimonial kind) taken in May 2009:

If the last pic gave you the impression that I was fit, I'd pat myself on the back saying, "wow! i could really pull my tummy in when need arose." However, stepping out of the shower gave a glimpse of reality everyday without fail. I was getting nowhere and I was confused as to whether I should try to add muscle mass or try to cut down fat. In late December 2009, I talked to a trainer again (see I was running out of options) and he suggested me a big big diet, I obliged. I started at 69 kg. and reached 71.5 kg. in a month, the bad news was I added another inch to my waist. I had had enough, I knew that if I wanted to avoid my gym becoming just a societal meeting place (and you wouldn't believe how many people do just that) I needed a new strategy. I knew that the most important thing for me was to cut down fat, I needed definition more than size (which aesthetics aside is a healthier aim too). That's when I read and read and there was wisdom to be found if you look well enough. I understood the role of all the components: diet, weights, cardio and rest (plus a not-so-known which I will talk about later). I realized my mistakes: since my foray till the day of enlightenment I had blatantly ignored diet and was highly irregular with cardio to put it mildly. I designed a diet and a better workout and after that there was no looking back. Details will follow soon but I thought a little background wouldn't go amiss if it can serve as motivation, for after all is theorized it is the commitment to act that gets the job done!