3.8 weeks...
3.8 weeks...
Hey, so I've been busting my ass for the past month, and have seen some great gains. I'm almost at the single digits of body fat (probably 11% or so bodyfat) and want really bad to go all the way.
During all this journey to 8% though, I've crashed once, and then got really sick. Today is day 2 of being sick, but I'll be back to working out tomorrow. School starts on the 20th for me, which will limit how much i'll be working out. However, this is what I want to know:
I have 3.8 weeks until Ramadan starts (my religious fast) and I want to be at my goal by then. This is what my work out regimen will look like:
-HIIT in the morning (Fasted) tue/thurs/sat/sun
-LI cardio post-lift on friday
-Endurance lifting (five exercises, five sets of each with 15 reps/set with 30 sec rests between sets) everyday of the week except wednesday.
Plus, I plan on biking a whole lot everyday.
And of course, I'll have 5 meals/day that are equally spaced out (3 hours) and are comprised of only clean foods. No need to get into the diet, it'll be ~2000 cals of mostly protein.
Will I be able to meet my 8% bodyfat goal in time? If not, how close will I be, because if I'm close enough, I'll chase it during Ramadan.
I'll rep any responses.
depends on your body...if you hit a plateau or not...
you can lose 0.5% per week at a stable rate..., in the hoger % sometimes 1% per week).
so IF you really are at 11% ...its going to be real hard..but nog impossible.
you might want to try the Velocity diet + a fatburner!
Two conventional wisdom's for you:
(1) 0.5% body fat is a very good "average" loss per week, 0.7% is outstanding
(2) The lower you go, the harder it gets. I remember reading an article by one guy who said going from 10% to 7% was harder than going from 20% to 10%.
And one inspiration:
(1) The harder you work (consistency) to be the exception, the greater your odds
Dave
Assuming I don't plateau, what do you think I can get on the regimen I posted?
bump
I've not been near single digits in a LONG time, so I'm not really sure...
I will say this though. If you're not at 8% by Ramadan, then just set a goal to maintain during the fast (isn't it a sunrise-to-sunset fast and not a full fast? my college roomate was Muslim and I believe he ate after dark). When the fast is over, then pick up where you left off with a mild refeed (just a few days of eating at maintenence to get used to 6x meals/day) and keep going.
It's important to set high goals, but there's always the maxim that our long-term goals are often far too low, while our short-term goals are far too high.
Dave
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking if I don't get to that 8%. I just want to know how close I can get though.
Also, how bad was it that these past two days I was sick, didn't work out at all, and ate kind of poorly?
Anyone?
Hey, so I've been busting my ass for the past month, and have seen some great gains. I'm almost at the single digits of body fat (probably 11% or so bodyfat) and want really bad to go all the way.
During all this journey to 8% though, I've crashed once, and then got really sick. Today is day 2 of being sick, but I'll be back to working out tomorrow. School starts on the 20th for me, which will limit how much i'll be working out. However, this is what I want to know:
I have 3.8 weeks until Ramadan starts (my religious fast) and I want to be at my goal by then. This is what my work out regimen will look like:
-HIIT in the morning (Fasted) tue/thurs/sat/sun
-LI cardio post-lift on friday
-Endurance lifting (five exercises, five sets of each with 15 reps/set with 30 sec rests between sets) everyday of the week except wednesday.
Plus, I plan on biking a whole lot everyday.
And of course, I'll have 5 meals/day that are equally spaced out (3 hours) and are comprised of only clean foods. No need to get into the diet, it'll be ~2000 cals of mostly protein.
Will I be able to meet my 8% bodyfat goal in time? If not, how close will I be, because if I'm close enough, I'll chase it during Ramadan. you can do it in 3.8 weeks DEFINITELY assuming you play it smart. First of all, sounds like you're going to be overtraining with that kind of workout which will lead to a plateau. 4 days of HIIT is too much do 2-3 max. 6 days of weights is too much do 3-4. I would have some protein before HIIT to prevent muscle loss. Just have a quick protein shake. Right now I'm doing carb cycling which is GREAT for quick fast loss without plateauing. Look into it.
Someone on here said there's nothing wrong with doing HIIT in the morning, but still I'm not all for it. Being fasted and doing something at such a high intensity can't be good for your body. I've seen so many people recommend against it and have yet to see one person recommend it. The efficiency of it is the same as doing it not fasted. So doing it fasted will not tap into your "fat stores" I'm pretty sure.
As for endurance lifting, is that circuit training? If not, drop it and go into more the functional hypertrophy ranges 6-8 reps 4 times a week. There are a couple of good programs that fit this criteria and go up higher in reps for certain days. If it is circuit training, sweet keep it. Actually, google "T-nation Destroying Fat" and use the circuit training + strength training regime laid out. I think you would do much better on that then what you have now.
What is ''circuit training?''
What is ''circuit training?'' Basically, you have a few exercises lined up and you do them back to back for a certain amount of reps. So it's like supersetting 5 exercises in a row. That would be one circuit but you would repeat it 3 times in a row without resting with a certain rep range generally much higher. So I'll take an example from that article I told you about which I will post by the way so you can have a thorough read through:
CIRCUIT A (15 reps per set)
A1. Horizontal pushing exercise (Bench Press)
A2. Quads-dominant exercise (Back Squat)
A3. Horizontal pulling exercise (Chin Up)
A4. Hamstrings-dominant exercise (Straight Leg Deadlift)
A5. Abdominal exercise (Russian Twist)
You would do all those in a row, 15 reps of each, 3 times. If you read the article it will tell you about the science.
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1499282
Also, how bad was it that these past two days I was sick, didn't work out at all, and ate kind of poorly? Well eating junk is never really beneficial...but if you've been eating clean for a while then it probably won't effect you that much. What is healthy and beneficial for fat loss is an idea of refeeding (eating clean foods, with slightly more carbs, at maintenence calories or greater) every 4-7 days.
The being sick might've been related to how hard you've been pushing. I agree with dtsymxfan. Your goals are 3% BF in 3.8 weeks - which is about as high as you can get. However, effort & results aren't a linear relationship - i.e. you can put in x hours to get y benefit, but doing 2*x hours doesn't always give you 2*y benefit.
It's awesome that you're pushing so hard and working your tail off. BUT fat loss is really a marathon...the fastest way to finish is by being consistent over a long period of time (months), not trying to do everything at once.
Well eating junk is never really beneficial...but if you've been eating clean for a while then it probably won't effect you that much. What is healthy and beneficial for fat loss is an idea of refeeding (eating clean foods, with slightly more carbs, at maintenence calories or greater) every 4-7 days.
The being sick might've been related to how hard you've been pushing. I agree with dtsymxfan. Your goals are 3% BF in 3.8 weeks - which is about as high as you can get. However, effort & results aren't a linear relationship - i.e. you can put in x hours to get y benefit, but doing 2*x hours doesn't always give you 2*y benefit.
It's awesome that you're pushing so hard and working your tail off. BUT fat loss is really a marathon...the fastest way to finish is by being consistent over a long period of time (months), not trying to do everything at once. Well, 3% in 3.8 weeks would be nice, but it isn't my goal. I just want some estimates to how close i'll be. I'm starting again today, although my stomach still doesn't feel 100%, and I'm going to do HIIT, then lifting, and biking around town. I'm cutting out the second cardio of the day (If I do end up doing it, it'll be really low intensity for 40 minutes just to burn 500 cals or so, all this on a cross trainer). When the 20th hits I'm doing HIIT only 4x a week. Can't wait for school (20th).
UPDATE:
So, I saw the doctor, and he tested (with calipers) my bodyfat and delcared just under 11%. That's motivation, I got 24 days to knock it down. I'll be happy if I just knock off 2%.
I plan on HIIT 4 days/wk.
I plan on lifting 6 days/wk (possibly LI cardio after all those sessions).
I'll keep up my eating habits, and will try to bike around, so, we'll see.
Good news from the doc! always extra motivating
Hey, so I've been busting my ass for the past month, and have seen some great gains. I'm almost at the single digits of body fat (probably 11% or so bodyfat) and want really bad to go all the way.
During all this journey to 8% though, I've crashed once, and then got really sick. Today is day 2 of being sick, but I'll be back to working out tomorrow. School starts on the 20th for me, which will limit how much i'll be working out. However, this is what I want to know:
I have 3.8 weeks until Ramadan starts (my religious fast) and I want to be at my goal by then. This is what my work out regimen will look like:
-HIIT in the morning (Fasted) tue/thurs/sat/sun
-LI cardio post-lift on friday
-Endurance lifting (five exercises, five sets of each with 15 reps/set with 30 sec rests between sets) everyday of the week except wednesday.
Plus, I plan on biking a whole lot everyday.
And of course, I'll have 5 meals/day that are equally spaced out (3 hours) and are comprised of only clean foods. No need to get into the diet, it'll be ~2000 cals of mostly protein.
Will I be able to meet my 8% bodyfat goal in time? If not, how close will I be, because if I'm close enough, I'll chase it during Ramadan.
Answer:
I'll rep any responses.
Answer:
depends on your body...if you hit a plateau or not...
you can lose 0.5% per week at a stable rate..., in the hoger % sometimes 1% per week).
so IF you really are at 11% ...its going to be real hard..but nog impossible.
you might want to try the Velocity diet + a fatburner!
Answer:
Two conventional wisdom's for you:
(1) 0.5% body fat is a very good "average" loss per week, 0.7% is outstanding
(2) The lower you go, the harder it gets. I remember reading an article by one guy who said going from 10% to 7% was harder than going from 20% to 10%.
And one inspiration:
(1) The harder you work (consistency) to be the exception, the greater your odds
Dave
Answer:
Assuming I don't plateau, what do you think I can get on the regimen I posted?
Answer:
bump
Answer:
I've not been near single digits in a LONG time, so I'm not really sure...
I will say this though. If you're not at 8% by Ramadan, then just set a goal to maintain during the fast (isn't it a sunrise-to-sunset fast and not a full fast? my college roomate was Muslim and I believe he ate after dark). When the fast is over, then pick up where you left off with a mild refeed (just a few days of eating at maintenence to get used to 6x meals/day) and keep going.
It's important to set high goals, but there's always the maxim that our long-term goals are often far too low, while our short-term goals are far too high.
Dave
Answer:
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking if I don't get to that 8%. I just want to know how close I can get though.
Also, how bad was it that these past two days I was sick, didn't work out at all, and ate kind of poorly?
Answer:
Anyone?
Answer:
Hey, so I've been busting my ass for the past month, and have seen some great gains. I'm almost at the single digits of body fat (probably 11% or so bodyfat) and want really bad to go all the way.
During all this journey to 8% though, I've crashed once, and then got really sick. Today is day 2 of being sick, but I'll be back to working out tomorrow. School starts on the 20th for me, which will limit how much i'll be working out. However, this is what I want to know:
I have 3.8 weeks until Ramadan starts (my religious fast) and I want to be at my goal by then. This is what my work out regimen will look like:
-HIIT in the morning (Fasted) tue/thurs/sat/sun
-LI cardio post-lift on friday
-Endurance lifting (five exercises, five sets of each with 15 reps/set with 30 sec rests between sets) everyday of the week except wednesday.
Plus, I plan on biking a whole lot everyday.
And of course, I'll have 5 meals/day that are equally spaced out (3 hours) and are comprised of only clean foods. No need to get into the diet, it'll be ~2000 cals of mostly protein.
Will I be able to meet my 8% bodyfat goal in time? If not, how close will I be, because if I'm close enough, I'll chase it during Ramadan. you can do it in 3.8 weeks DEFINITELY assuming you play it smart. First of all, sounds like you're going to be overtraining with that kind of workout which will lead to a plateau. 4 days of HIIT is too much do 2-3 max. 6 days of weights is too much do 3-4. I would have some protein before HIIT to prevent muscle loss. Just have a quick protein shake. Right now I'm doing carb cycling which is GREAT for quick fast loss without plateauing. Look into it.
Answer:
Someone on here said there's nothing wrong with doing HIIT in the morning, but still I'm not all for it. Being fasted and doing something at such a high intensity can't be good for your body. I've seen so many people recommend against it and have yet to see one person recommend it. The efficiency of it is the same as doing it not fasted. So doing it fasted will not tap into your "fat stores" I'm pretty sure.
As for endurance lifting, is that circuit training? If not, drop it and go into more the functional hypertrophy ranges 6-8 reps 4 times a week. There are a couple of good programs that fit this criteria and go up higher in reps for certain days. If it is circuit training, sweet keep it. Actually, google "T-nation Destroying Fat" and use the circuit training + strength training regime laid out. I think you would do much better on that then what you have now.
Answer:
What is ''circuit training?''
Answer:
What is ''circuit training?'' Basically, you have a few exercises lined up and you do them back to back for a certain amount of reps. So it's like supersetting 5 exercises in a row. That would be one circuit but you would repeat it 3 times in a row without resting with a certain rep range generally much higher. So I'll take an example from that article I told you about which I will post by the way so you can have a thorough read through:
CIRCUIT A (15 reps per set)
A1. Horizontal pushing exercise (Bench Press)
A2. Quads-dominant exercise (Back Squat)
A3. Horizontal pulling exercise (Chin Up)
A4. Hamstrings-dominant exercise (Straight Leg Deadlift)
A5. Abdominal exercise (Russian Twist)
You would do all those in a row, 15 reps of each, 3 times. If you read the article it will tell you about the science.
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1499282
Answer:
Also, how bad was it that these past two days I was sick, didn't work out at all, and ate kind of poorly? Well eating junk is never really beneficial...but if you've been eating clean for a while then it probably won't effect you that much. What is healthy and beneficial for fat loss is an idea of refeeding (eating clean foods, with slightly more carbs, at maintenence calories or greater) every 4-7 days.
The being sick might've been related to how hard you've been pushing. I agree with dtsymxfan. Your goals are 3% BF in 3.8 weeks - which is about as high as you can get. However, effort & results aren't a linear relationship - i.e. you can put in x hours to get y benefit, but doing 2*x hours doesn't always give you 2*y benefit.
It's awesome that you're pushing so hard and working your tail off. BUT fat loss is really a marathon...the fastest way to finish is by being consistent over a long period of time (months), not trying to do everything at once.
Answer:
Well eating junk is never really beneficial...but if you've been eating clean for a while then it probably won't effect you that much. What is healthy and beneficial for fat loss is an idea of refeeding (eating clean foods, with slightly more carbs, at maintenence calories or greater) every 4-7 days.
The being sick might've been related to how hard you've been pushing. I agree with dtsymxfan. Your goals are 3% BF in 3.8 weeks - which is about as high as you can get. However, effort & results aren't a linear relationship - i.e. you can put in x hours to get y benefit, but doing 2*x hours doesn't always give you 2*y benefit.
It's awesome that you're pushing so hard and working your tail off. BUT fat loss is really a marathon...the fastest way to finish is by being consistent over a long period of time (months), not trying to do everything at once. Well, 3% in 3.8 weeks would be nice, but it isn't my goal. I just want some estimates to how close i'll be. I'm starting again today, although my stomach still doesn't feel 100%, and I'm going to do HIIT, then lifting, and biking around town. I'm cutting out the second cardio of the day (If I do end up doing it, it'll be really low intensity for 40 minutes just to burn 500 cals or so, all this on a cross trainer). When the 20th hits I'm doing HIIT only 4x a week. Can't wait for school (20th).
Answer:
UPDATE:
So, I saw the doctor, and he tested (with calipers) my bodyfat and delcared just under 11%. That's motivation, I got 24 days to knock it down. I'll be happy if I just knock off 2%.
I plan on HIIT 4 days/wk.
I plan on lifting 6 days/wk (possibly LI cardio after all those sessions).
I'll keep up my eating habits, and will try to bike around, so, we'll see.
Answer:
Good news from the doc! always extra motivating