Not Your Average Fitness Tips

I think it’s important that I start by providing some background on my experience working out over the years.  It’s my past experiences that help shape the method I’m using now to get lean and defined muscles.  Note that this is an extraordinarily long entry, simply meant to provide insight into my experience.  Skip to the end if you want the quick Not Your Average Fitness Tips.

High School: Being Young and Practicing Sports 2 Hours Every Day Can Really Limit Weight Gain, Regardless of Diet

Like some of you, I was a high school athlete who started exercising to improve my athletic ability.  When I started working out, I did the standard 3 set of 8 reps on a variety of exercises.  My primary cardio at the time included football and wrestling practices.  During the off season, I would do sprints and some light medium distance running.

As high school progressed, I became obsessed with fitness magazines.  I would sit in magazine racks (this was when dial-up AOL was still the most popular way to get online) and get all the workout tips I could get my hands on.  I discovered new exercises, experimented with pyramiding, supersets, and anything else that these muscular “gurus” would put out there for me.  Too bad that the majority of these “gurus” probably spent the better part of their life in the gym and, more importantly, probably took steroids as well.  Should I really take advice from someone who has a proven drug induced advantage to exercising?  Why would I want to balloon up to that size anyway?  I never really took the time to ask those questions.

My diet during high school was less than stellar.  I ate Burger King, Dairy Queen, Oreos and a variety of other sinful foods on a regular basis.  My standard order at BK was 3 hamburgers, a large fry, and large chocolate shake (2,280 calories for those counting).  Dairy Queen, how about a large blizzard (1,060 calories)?  4 double stuff Oreos for lunch every day, no problem!  I figured I was blessed with a great metabolism because I never gained weight.  It didn’t really hit me that I was exercising for 10-15 hours per week to offset all the garbage I put in my body.   The only positive diet experience that came out of high school was skipping breakfast, despite my parents’ urging that it was “the most important meal of the day”…you’ll hear more about that in a future post.

The easy days of being a high school athlete

College: High School Diet without the Constant Exercise

As I went off to college, I left high school athletics behind.  I maintained my weightlifting but couldn’t bring myself to do any “boring” cardio.  My diet was no better than high school…hamburgers and fries on regular basis for lunch, large Domino’s pizzas for dinner on the weekends (1,920 calories).  My weight gradually crept up, but I didn’t really notice.  During the summer, I picked up the intensity of my workouts and did plyometrics and sprint training again.

By my junior year of college, I finally realized that I wasn’t as lean as I used to be.  At 5’8” and a whopping 150lbs, I wasn’t exactly fat; I just wasn’t up to my standards (for reference, I played football at closer to 145lbs and wrestled at 135lbs).  While not a big difference in weight, it was clear I had lost some muscle (and strength as well).

I picked up Bill Phillips’ Body for Life to set me in the right direction.  Bill clearly had credibility as a personal trainer and had lots of pictures of people who achieved unbelievable results with his program.  I was sold.

I’m sure Body for Life has undoubtedly worked well for a great number of people, but the point is that I wasn’t even skeptical.  When you search fitness sites online, many of the before and after pictures are of fitness models who “let themselves go” for a few months and then “get in the most amazing shape of their lives” with XYZ program.  It’s much easier to get in great shape if you used to be in great shape.  Let’s not overlook the fact that the before picture generally looks like it was taken right after the person got out of bed.  Meanwhile the after picture shows the person greased up with a tan and flexing.  I can show you pictures of myself pushing my stomach out and hunched over and then flexing while standing up straight and you’d think I lost 10lbs of fat.  I don’t know what sites use these types of models; I’m just saying that you should be skeptical.

Body for Life helped me focus on a fairly balanced workout program consisting of mass building exercises and cardio.  However, at that point in my life, I had 6 days to work out as Body for Life prescribed.  What didn’t work for me: eating 6 times per day because I worried my metabolism would slow down.  I also became obsessed with Myoplex protein shakes and supplements.

Oddly enough, after doing the program for some time, I still didn’t have the six pack abs I was hoping for.  No doubt my strength increased and my muscles were a little puffier, but I didn’t look like all the people on the cover of the book.  I just assumed after 3 months, I would be in the best shape of my life.  What happened: I never stopped to consider that I was eating a ridiculous amount of calories.  Those Myoplex protein shakes weren’t meal replacements; they were supplements to my normal eating routine, essentially adding 500-1,000 calories per day.  No wonder I couldn’t see my abs!

After graduating from college, I joined the finance field working 70-100 hours per week.  Needless to say, exercising ended.  I did walk to and from work on most days though…another point that I’ll address later.  My life was spent in the office which meant I ate out for lunch and dinner most days of the week.  However, I was also too busy to snack or eat breakfast.  This limited my weight gain, and I didn’t worry too much since my clothes still fit.

Wedding Workout: High Intensity, High Frequency Workouts, Low Calorie Diet

I was able to move into a more lifestyle friendly area of finance after about 15 months.  That also allowed me time to propose and plan a wedding.  Since my wife wanted to be in the best shape of her life for the wedding, and I wanted to look good as well, we started going to the gym 6 days per week.  Over the course of 4 months, I lost about 10lbs for the wedding, getting back down to 140lbs.  We also eliminated all the junk food from our diet.  Not a bad accomplishment but I’m fairly certain most people could lose 5-10lbs if they exercised intensely for an hour a day every day and followed a very strict diet.  The key is that I wasn’t too far removed from my target weight.

A well deserved honeymoon in Aruba

Married Life: Low Intensity, Low Frequency Workouts, High Calorie Diet

After the wedding, I didn’t look back.  We were busy buying a house so once again exercise fell by the wayside.  Diet was no concern either.  I went through a phase where I literally had Ring Dings or candy bars for lunch every day.  Let’s not forget the giant bowl of ice cream I had every night after dinner.

After dabbling with exercising here and there for a couple years, I noticed my clothes were getting tighter.  I stepped on the scale and saw that I was 155lbs…I had never been that high before.  I got out my body fat tester and it read 18%.  I had never seen anything above 15% before.  April 2008, this is when my fitness obsession began.

Fitness Obsession: Like a Year Round Wedding Workout

I eliminated those Ring Dings and scaled back the ice cream I ate.  I spent an hour every night lifting weights and half an hour first thing in the morning on the exercise bike.  I skipped breakfast.  I wouldn’t eat after exercising at night.  4 months later I hit 138lbs and my body fat hit 10%.  So what’s wrong with that method: it took an endless amount of time, not to mention the fact that everyone thought I was way too skinny.  During that time I went from a 42” chest to a 38” chest.  My waist shrunk 2” but people merely noticed that I didn’t fill out my shirts as nicely.

Bulking and Cutting Like a Bodybuilder

It was time to change pace again.  In August 2008, I became obsessed with bodybuilding sites.  I determined that I had just completed what might be considered a “cutting” phase.  It was time to enter a “bulking phase” and rapidly add muscle mass.  I dropped all cardio.  I cut lifting down to 3-4 times per week.  I ate 500 calories above “maintenance.”  In 2 months time I was back up to 155lbs.  I was so obsessed with increasing the size of my chest and arms that I never looked at my stomach.  I once again woke up and found my pants were getting tight and my waste was almost 35” again.  My body fat was back up to 15%, and I had a pudgy layer of fat covering my abs.

Unfortunately it was the holiday season; I couldn’t possibly enter another “cutting” phase then.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to aggressively diet so I put things off until the spring of 2009.  I got really aggressive again working out mornings and nights and got back to the same 138lbs, 10% body fat that I was the year before.  I was still too skinny for most people.  This time I was going to “bulk” the “right way.”  I decided that I would forego my strict diet and cardio but not obsessively down as many protein shakes as the year before.  2 months and 10lbs later, I was wondering what went wrong.  At least this time my body fat only increased to 12%.

The little guy that changed my life...I'm thinking it's time for him to start doing squats and pushups...

The Diet and Exercise Routine That Saved Time and Burned Fat

That’s when my long workout sessions ended and my story really begins.  Up until this point in my life, I was always able to find time to exercise.  My son Jack came along in August 2009 and everything changed.  I stopped working out for 3 months by necessity since he became my entire life.  When I finally looked at the scale, I was once again stuck at 155lbs with 15% body fat.

Take 3…this time I was going to do things right.  I scoured the web for information on losing fat and gaining muscle.  I wanted to get a lean, defined look without ending up “too skinny” like years past.  I wanted to see my abs but maintain a nice chest and arms.  I didn’t want to have puffy muscles.  Most importantly, I didn’t want to sacrifice time with my wife and son to get this look.

20 minutes per day for 6 days a week or 40 minutes per day for 3 days is all I really needed to bring myself back down to 145lbs with 11-12% body fat.  Over the past month, I’ve lost the last 5 stubborn pounds by pushing a bit harder.  I’m right where I look best: 140lbs, 10% body fat, a 31” waist, and a 41” chest.

In my next post, I’ll describe the workout and diet I’ve used to get here and what my plan is over the next few months.

Not Your Average Fitness Tips

At the end of every post, I plan on including key takeaways so that you can just skim my article and get the bottom line tips.

1. Hours of exercise can almost compensate for poor diet, but probably only if you’re 18-25 years old or a beginner.  Do you have 10-15 hours to exercise every week?  If not, better increase your focus on diet.
2. Bulking and cutting like a bodybuilder makes you too fat or too skinny and you’ll likely end up right where you started.  Lose fat, maintain muscle over time.

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