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Weight Loss, Strength, And The Rest…

Weight Loss, Strength, And The Rest…

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Yep, that’s the old scale underneath my feet! This morning it was registering out at a solid 206 lbs.! I’ve never really been too conscious of my weight. Like everyone else I know I’ve had fluctuations in the past due to a change in schedule, diet, the seasons, and my programming, but for the most part it’s been steady floating between 198 and 207 at any given time throughout the year. Bodyweight “specifically” has many variables that can influence it. Anything from body fat, water retention, muscle mass, and immediate food intake can play a big part in the variable of weight. Just click on the read more tab to see where I’m going with this.

Weight Loss Should=Fat Loss…

Being a strength coach I don’t often shift the focus of weight loss to my readers here, but for today I’m going to do so based on a very good email I got from a friend and co-worker to my brother. As you guys and girls know I do the best I can about responding to emails concerning questions on training, fitness products, and just life stuff in general. I am always willing to try and help as much as I can and with the email I got from Phillip this morning it is no different. Ok, maybe it’s just a little different.



Phillip basically has done a bang up job on shedding some unwanted pounds of body fat. Trust me folks because he works with my brother his job is a grind which makes his is dedication and discipline for tracking his movements all the more impressive. So here’s a virtual high five to you for that Phillip. Ok, now onto the business end of things.

So Phillip sends me the following email regarding the details of his strength and nutrition program, which is pretty darn solid. Check it out…

Brandon,

So for the last 3 months I have been doing a 30-40 minute circuit training workout 4-5 days a week. It is similar to an Insanity type workout with 1 to 2 minute high impact cardio exercises for a 10 minute period followed by a 1 minute break. The exercises include things like jumping jacks, pushups, burpees, etc.

I have also worked on my diet significantly. My normal daily meal plan is as follows:

Breakfast:

Boiled Egg

Yogurt

Piece of Fruit

Snack at 9:30:

Protein bar (around 150-180 calories)

Lunch:

Half boneless chicken Breast

Vegetables or salad

Piece of fruit

Snack at 3:30:

Fruit

Dinner:

Half boneless chicken breast

Salad or vegetables

I don’t think I have had a regular soda in 3 months. On the rare occasions I do have one it is a diet sprite. I drink water at every meal. I have cut out sugar. If I need it, I use stevia or something similar. I rarely eat salt. If I do, it is a small amount of the ½ sodium salt.  On the weekends I will go out to eat once or twice but I normally get something like a grilled fish taco.

3 months ago I started out at 225lbs. For the last 3 weeks I have been unable to break below 205lbs. My goal is 180-185lbs. I need some advice on how to get off my plateau and lose the remaining 20lbs. With my schedule, I go to the gym from 5:45am to 6:30am. I rarely get home before 7pm so afternoon workouts are tough to manage, especially when I am in bed by 9pm. On weekends, I will typically put in the insanity DVD at the house on Saturday mornings.

What am I doing wrong?



Well the short answer Phillip is not much of anything. However after glancing at the email and seeing what facts he’s presented to me there a few things that come to mind. I will also include my not so Oprah like response below. Yep, sorry folks there are no car giveaways for this blog studio audience, but hang tight because I do have a giveaway at the end of this!!! Ok now back to the topic at hand. Here’s my response to Phillip’s inquiry…

Phillip,

I appreciate you taking the time to reach out to me. Wow you have certainly done a great job of documenting the details of a typical day in your training and nutrition program. Phillip just from looking at what you’ve presented to me here in this email I want to point out some things that you may want to examine. Being that I don’t know every detail concerning the results of your program I’m just going to point out some “maybes” that you may want to direct your attention towards.

First of all, congratulations on your weight loss goal. I know you are wanting to break the “sticking point” of 205 lbs. for your weight, but obviously you’ve done a great job of speeding up your metabolism to burn off some unwanted body fat. Regardless of the change in scale weight at this point are you still tightening up? In other words is your body visually changing in terms of your continued loss of body fat? This is what I would personally be more concerned with than just “scale weight” at this point. Just a thought.

Secondly, if you feel that your metabolism is still “sticking” then on the surface to me it seems that the nutrition plan you have in place is pretty solid with one BIG exception. It looks like you may NOT be getting enough protein. For instance, at breakfast you are only having a single boiled egg and at dinner you are only eating a half a boneless chicken breast. If you would consider your activity level to be vigorous in nature as opposed to being moderate in nature then you have GOT to have protein. As a matter of fact, the NSCA recommends an individual participating in a vigorous exercise program should be consuming 2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. So essentially you need about a gram per pound of bodyweight!



Protein aids in soft tissue repair and speeds up your metabolic rate so that you are in an anabolic state (a building up of biological presses) rather than a catabolic state (a breaking down of biological processes). This is why you don’t want to be deficient in nutrients when involved in an exercise program, or especially a vigorous one. Make sure you are getting in the protein.

Thirdly, as far as your actual exercise program I love burpees, push ups, pull ups and the variations of body weight drills you have been including.I use much of these myself. However, as a bonus if you can get your hands on some free weights such as kettlebells, barbells, and dumbbells that would be great.

Introducing proper “heavy” lifting into your program would help to accelerate your progress. By offsetting the high work capacity drills you are doing with your bodyweight exercises with heavy lift days you are going to put on some hard lean muscle mass for sure. I myself weigh in between 199 and 205 depending on the day, but I also have a low body fat percentage and can pull upwards of 400 lbs. on the deadlift. I promise you with that last statement I’m not trying to inflate my ego by telling you that, but my brother will tell you that I keep a very lean build as a result of my lifting habits.

Authentic RKC Kettlebells

Well there you have it folks. A great comprehensive approach from someone that has tackled a weight loss campaign successfully, but hasn’t quite gotten to where they want to be. Like Phillip you have to keep your eye on the prize and it’s the little adjustments that will make the BIG differences in your results. Otherwise you’ll just struggle to turn the lights out on achieving your goals.

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So if you need that extra little push for helping you to find and fill the holes in your strength training or weight loss program make sure you get a copy of my Brandon Richey’s Better Than Steroids ebook here today. You get a LOT of information in this ebook for a very small price.

Oh yeah I almost forgot. So what am I giving away, right? That’s what you were wondering. Well if you are new to the site and have not joined my FREE Knowledge list then make sure you do so right here, because I’m giving away not 1, but 2 FREE ebook guides discussing very different strength training needs. You’ll have to click here to see what all the fuss is about. Comments and questions are welcome below in the comment box my friend. Have a Happy Father’s Day and keep training smart!

 

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Brandon

I'm a Certified Strength And Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and author. I have had over 17 years experience in MMA fitness, strength and conditoning, and athletic performance for most every sport. As an author and specialist I've written close to a million words on fitness and strength. I'm also a Muay Thai practictioner and enjoy helping others to reach their peak potential through fitness and performance.

This Post Has 2 Comments
  1. Great post Brandon. I have found your advice to be correct on adding weight resistance to my fitness program. Mixing that up with body weight circuit days seems to be a good recipe for success.

    Thanks
    Chad

    1. Chad that’s awesome to hear. Yes, I regularly encourage big multi-joint strength lifts at heavy intensities. You can go heavy to offset those high work capacity days to mix up your program. It allows the body to strengthen while you recover from a high volume training day and vice versa. I’m glad to hear about your progress. Keep us updated big DAWG! 🙂

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