I think it's fine as far as the schedule goes, assuming you're up to HIIT after a good workout. I tend to move HIIT to a separate day, but I'm not convinced that either is the 'right' way.

lolll. no I messed up with the word. only a grammatical error. about the woorkout I arranged every detail you told me about Chillen.

can you elaborate about my food? I mean can you provide me with a simple list of carbs which i take BEFORE workouts and carbs AFTER workouts. and is my food schedule looking good or should I fix something? (in order to cut for abs to show?

Or am I doing the right thing and im a cople of weeks/months away from my goal? ? hehehee

( for the record, this is what I had until now today)

breakfast 8am: 2 oatmeals with 1 low fat yogurt and pear.3 eggs (2 whites)
11am- 1 small brown bread bun with 1 chicken piece + apple
football 1 hr.
1pm- corslaw + 3 turkey slices
3pm- 2 steak portions + large veg. salad
5pm- apple + 5 walnuts
I plan to take some fat free cheese and some salad tonight.

Do your weight training first before any cardio. Begin within a tolerant level meaning 20 minutes minimim at a decent intensity level, and work your way up.

20 to 30 minutes of cardio on a progressive intensity scale will do the job.

Since you are narrowing down your workout, you now MUST narrow down your diet. It FIRST begins with learning your caloric needs per day (MT LINE), and then backing off a small margin. What type of diet one is on is the most important LINK above anything else.

You have to understand that ABS (as this is what you desire) come through the DIET. However, I personaly believe a zig-zag diet with your present body composition in mind will do you better service. This will allow for "potential" muscle growth and body fat loss at the same time. You just dont have much body fat to remove, and you will be better served in my opinion by allowing upper and lower body growth to occur, and trying to lose some body fat at the same time........and its POSSIBLE......a correct zig-zag diet will assist you......this is what I believe you need to do.....since its the abs you want most, AND there ISNT much body fat to reduce (there is some, but its not that great amount)

A Zig-zag diet is a diet where you allow a surplus of calories for a carefully selected amount of days, and then allow a deficit for a carefully selected amount of days---in a one week time period.

If you closely examine your body I believe with what I know at the moment, that you need a FBW, and a zig-zag diet, with eating as clean as possible with no nutrient manipulations at the present time.

In addition, with your present composition in mind, you need to pay careful attention to your progressive Ab workout routine, in addition to the deadlift and squat--while keeping your diet tip top.

While some can get by getting abs not doing a ab workout, specifically, I believe you need to do them, as I believe this inst always the case, though in general, this is in fact true.

On the abs: Hanging leg raises, russian twists, weighted half-up situps

Your torso in in reletively good shape, and while you may have focus on fat loss, I believe allowing for some overall muscle growth will improve your situation more.
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I dont know if you saw this post before but I will post how to configure your calories (and it has what to eat as well, in brief form):



Calorie calculation is an approximation science, remember this. Through your journey WATCH, LOOK, and LISTEN, to your body..........it will TELL YOU if your doing the correct things or combination of things!


○ Change your eating habits (below are some suggestion examples)

○ Substitute an artificial sweetener of your choice in the replace of refined white sugar (Refrain from Refined Sugar like you would a disease)

○ Try eating 5 to 6 smaller meals during the day

○ Balance your meals out during the day so in one day you have a mix of protein, carbohydrate and good fats

○ Drink lots of water during the day and before, during and after exercise

○ Simple Carb Examples: Grapefruit, Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Strawberries, Oranges, Apples, Pineapple, etc

○ Complex Carb Examples: Whole Wheat Pita Bread, Oatmeal, Long Grain Brown Rice, Brown Pasta, Malto-Meal (Plain, whole wheat),etc

○ Good Protein Examples: White or Dark Tuna, Chicken Breast, Lean Turkey, Lean Ham, Very lean Beef, Quality Whey Protein Powder,, etc

○ Good Fats Examples: Natural Peanut Butter, Various Nuts, Flax Seed, Fish Oils.

This is what you need to do:

This an approximation science, but you can narrow it down very close, if your meticulous in your vision when looking at the data.

Tweak your desire and passion by educating yourself on the basic requirements of losing fat tissue. With your age, sex, height, and weight, in mind, find your approximated base calorie needs (this is organ function, breathing, or bodily function needs). One can use the Benedict Formula.

Calculate your BMR:

The Harris Benedict equation determines calorie needs for men or woman as follows:

• It calculates your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calorie requirements, based on your height, weight, age and gender.

• It increases your BMR calorie needs by taking into account the number of calories you burn through activities such as exercise.

This gives you your total calorie requirement or approximated Maintenance Line (I call it the MT Line).

Step One : Calculate your BMR with the following formula:

•Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
•Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

Step Two : In order to incorporate activity into your daily caloric needs, do the following calculation:

•If you are sedentary : BMR x 1.2
•If you are lightly active: BMR x 1.375
•If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): BMR x 1.55
•If you are very active (You exercise daily.): BMR x 1.725
•If you are extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training.): BMR x 1.9

Create a Calorie Deficit:

In order to lose weight, you must create a calorie deficit. It is easier and healthier to cut back your calorie intake a little bit at a time.

Every 3,500 calories is equivalent to approximated 1 pound.

If you cut back 500 calories a day, you will lose approximated 1 pound per week. (not necessarily all fat)

If you exercise to burn off 500 calories a day you will also lose approximately 1 pound per week.

The calorie deficit margin is just an example:

Apply this knowledge by backing off the approximated MT Line (approximated Maintenance line), say for example, a -500c per day, for about 1 week. Before the week begins, weigh yourself in the AM when you FIRST get up (do not eat yet) (remember your clothing, preferably with just underwear and t-shirt or like clothes). Note the time, and the approximated wgt.
Each day spread your caloric content out throughout the day (keep the body fed, with calories in the 300 to 500c approximated calories each meal), or a like division which mirrors your end caloric deficit limit (meaning MT-500c).

This way you have your entire day and body encircled with nutrition (I assume you already know to eat clean), which if your eating right, will give an approximated good energy (not optimal because your in deficit) to fuel your training and exercising schedule.

At the end of the week, on the same day, the same time, with the same like clothes, weigh yourself again. Note whether you lost or gained tissue (or weight I mean). To further assist you, I want to tell you that for every approximated caloric deficit of (-3500c), one could lose 1lb of fat tissue. (though some may not all be fat tissue, this information is for another question, and isn't presently suited here).

Now, in this example you were calculating a -500c per day deficit. There needs to be -3500c to lose approximated 1lbs of fat. Now lets do some basic math. -500cX7=-3500c. With all things considered equal, and you were meticulous and faithful on the diet, you should have been CLOSE to losing at least one pound of tissue in the week.

If this didn't happen, this means you need to make finer adjustments, and the MT line is not accurate, and you need to adjust this on your own.

Based upon the FEEDBACK your body is giving you, ask yourself how faithful you were on the diet, AND how faithful in training (whether you kept the training schedule (if you didn't, this would effect the caloric equation, no?!), AND how accurate you figured in your activities caloric wise.........but, you have the base information to begin making adjustments.

The calorie SURPLUS margin is just an example: (attempt to gain weight)

Apply this knowledge by going OVER the approximated MT Line (approximated Maintenance line), say for example, a +500c per day, for about 1 week. Before the week begins, weigh yourself in the AM when you FIRST get up (do not eat yet) (remember your clothing, preferably with just underwear and t-shirt or like clothes). Note the time, and the approximated wgt.
Each day spread your caloric content out throughout the day (keep the body fed, with calories in the 300 to 500c approximated calories each meal), or a like division which mirrors your end caloric deficit limit (meaning MT+500c).

This way you have your entire day and body encircled with nutrition (I assume you already know to eat clean), which if your eating right, will give an approximated good energy (not optimal because your in deficit) to fuel your training and exercising schedule.

At the end of the week, on the same day, the same time, with the same like clothes, weigh yourself again. Note whether you lost or gained tissue (or weight I mean).

If this didn't happen, this means you need to make finer adjustments, and the MT line is not accurate, and you need to adjust this on your own



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The Nutrients are an essential factor in the diet; however, the law of energy balance within the DIET, is the ultimate KING while the Nutrients can play in some decisions made within the body.

Do yourself a favor, figure out your MT line, adjust off of this, eat well balanced spaced out meals (DONT EVER starve YOURSELF), AND listen to your body for the results.

While you are trying to figure out your body, IT WILL PAY YOU BACK, I promise. You have to learn to MASTER yourself to become the master of weight loss for YOURSELF.
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"Let your inner vision cultivate your ultimate exterior expression" —Chillen

"The strongest inner feeling that prevails will result in the exterior expression" –Chillen

"Your cultivation and manifestation of thought accumulated within your reasoning will determine your outcome"----Chillen
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Deficit dieting is the fat burner, and EVERYTHING follows after this. The deficit can be implemented through the diet or exercise can cause the deficit when you know your MT line reference. Without a adequate deficit, cardio WILL NOT burn fat off you. This is WHY I don't partake in the cardio debates of heart rate, etc........because the bottom line is the deficit diet....period, debate OVER. If you stick to the basic: The Law of energy balance, and tip this to the negative side of the equation, you will be on your way, with everything considered equal and your healthy.

Losing fat is sort of like draining a pool. It usually leaves the shallow end first before the larger end starts to diminish. But, fat and/or tissue is lost all over when deficit dieting.

If you want to lose overall body fat, get your diet in order, eat clean, learn what your approximate MT reference line is according to activities (and back off a HEALTHY margin), and perform overall weight training, and of course, include cardio (cardio DOES have its benefits other than burning calories, carbs, fat, ect).

The most effective beginning is to look at your diet, and make a diet journal in my opinion, THEN work in a training program around this diet.

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You must have "some obsession".

Have controlled obsession (and obsession to a---Point, is necessary), but some lose this obsession once they learn the amount of work it requires. There eyes then widen and then the obsession then pops right out. Dont let this happen to you: Raise your Want-o-Meter to a new higher level.



Best Regards,


Chillen

You want to eat multiple times during the day, about every 2 to 3 hours; however, dont EVEN THINK, that if you miss a meal (because of your life style pressures), that this will hurt your progress......it WILL NOT.


The post-workout meal should be heavy on protein and carbohydrates. While protein builds muscle, do not forget the important role carbohydrates play in the process.

Your pre-workout meal is the second most important meal of the day, topped only by the post workout meal. The goal of this meal is to prepare the body for the assault you will soon be putting it through.

The meal should be consumed about 60-90 minutes before exercise begins to allow the body time to digest and make the nutrients available to the body during exercise.

Complex carbohydrates in your pre-workout meal will help ensure you have adequate energy levels for your workout. Another practice to consider is consuming simple carbohydrates (fruits, fruit juices) and/or protein in a quick drink 15 to 30 minutes previous to the workout to provide the body with an immediate energy source. (in my opinion)

In the previous post their is a list of protien and carb sources. In addition a whey shake before and after will do good service to you.

you call white rice a cheat meal!!!!!!!

dude! double heavy chocolate brownies with cremem cheese on top is a cheat. and not until you have two servings.... lol!!

that's all from me.

hehee

ff

I guess you could call them bench dips if you dip between two benches...

These are dips: Bodybuilding.com - Charles Ridgely - Exercise Of The Week: Dips.

If your primary goal is to shred fat you may also want to consider adding a more robust ( in terms of interval duration ) HIIT program specifically designed to not only improve your VO2 max and anaerobic conditioning but to also optimize fat loss as well.

There is a reputable trainer - Alywn Cosgrove ( co-author of ' New Rules of Lifting ' ) - who recommends a 16 week HIIT protocol based on 1 minute work and 2 minute recovery intervals ( NROL - page 87 )

Here are some of the details of Alywn's HIIT protocol to optimize fat loss.....


General Info / Tips from Alywn :

- use the HIIT protocol on any cardiovascular machine
- don't use the same cardio machine two workouts in a row
- can also be done doing push-ups, sit-ups, lunges, squats etc.
- the HIIT protocol can be done after weight training workouts on the same day or on separate days
- done properly, this HIIT will result in a 1-2lb fat loss per week.

Basic Approach:

- warm up for five minutes
- One Round: Do 1 minute as hard as you can ( on a scale of 1-10....shoot for a level 9 or 10 ). Then recover at a moderate pace (a level 6-7 intensity) for 2 minutes. So, ' One Round ' is 3 minutes long.
- Cool down for five minutes.

The HIIT Protocol:

Weeks 1 to 4:

- Perform 3 rounds, 3X per week.
- The total cardio time of 19 mins per workout including warm up and cool down.

Weeks 5 to 8:

- Perform 4 rounds, 4X per week.
- The total cardio time of 22 mins per workout including warm up and cool down.

Weeks 9 to 12:

- Perform 5 rounds, 4X per week.
- The total cardio time of 25 mins per workout including warm up and cool down.

Weeks 13 to 16:

- Perform 6 rounds, 5X per week.
- The total cardio time of 28 mins per workout including warm up and cool down.

.......you may want to think about replacing your current Tabata routines with this one from Alwyn.

Just a thought.

thanks for that info.it is very similar to what I do. But isnt 5-6 HIIT times bad for muscle loss? thats what I hear...I am only confused about 1 thing regarding cardio/HIIT. If I am cutting and currently have 3 days for cardio and 2 days for HIIT shoould I switch these and give more importance to HIIT and do 3 days for HIIT and 2 for cardio? (jogging for 30-35mins)


Chillen.. Where can I find the best appropriate BMR calculator?
(so that I can tell you my needs and than you can direct me personally from there) as for the basic rules I know about them. (eat regulary,etc etc)

Chillen is it possible to provide me (with my list of foods which I eat) a sample schedule of what I have to eat on different days since you told me make a zig-zag diet. I never quite heard of it except in your posts.

What should I eat on a surplus calorie day and on a defecit calorie day? And which days of my week should the surplus calorie days be and which days should my defecit calorie days be? (Personally, my mind tells me that surplus calorie days should be done on the days I workout no? and defecit days on when i rest? I might be wrong here..) I dont know if you can understand what Im asking..

(ps: is my workout routine/week good enough to provide me with good results? (along with a good diet))




....as for the food:
this is what I eat yesterday:

bfast- special K cereal+ pear + 3 eggs (2whites)
workout
post workout- can of tuna, 3 turkey slices , caprers + apple
2pm lunch- 2 portions beef + large veg. salad
4pm- can of tuna, 1 chicken slice (bought like the turkey slices),capers+ tomatoe
dinner 7pm- 6-7 small portions of chicken breast + large veg. salad

Today is my rest day (im waiting like hell for tommorow to arrrive, I hated the split routine week!). this is what i am going to eat:

breakfast-10am (woke up now,yeah) had 1 and a half servings special k cereal + 3 eggs (2 whites) + apple
12pm- chicken breast + large veg salad+ 3 slices fat free cheese

I'm out for the rest of the day so I dont know what Im going to eat probably

Not in my view. And apparently not in Alwyn's view either - which I why I suspect he has no qualms about suggesting it's O.K. to do his form of HIIT after weight training..

Granted, frequent HIIT sessions assumes you are eating properly and taking in enough calories to fuel your exercise ( pre and post and throughout the day ) and you're taking in adequate levels of carbs, protien, fat etc. Diet should be the primary focus when it comes to fat loss - no amount of training can overcome a lousy diet IMO. You only lose significant muscle when your body turns to protein for energy above and beyond what your body usually uses ( which is very little ) for energy. This most often is more likely when your glycogen ( i.e energy stored in your muscles, liver ) is critically low. If you take in enough calories throughout the day - with the majority coming from carbs ( which the normal way to create glycogen ) - your glycogen should never get this low and thus, should be a non-issue in your case. Also, some types of cardio also release more of a hormone called cortisol which may promote muscle loss etc. But this is usually more of an issue for longer sustained cardio of 1 hour or more - not HIIT. So again, in your case, nothing to really worry about IMO.

Also, you don't have to dive right in and follow Alwyn's protocol to the letter and do HIIT 6 times a week ( Alwyn maxed out at 5X a week btw - not 6X ). You could simply do Alwyns' protocol 3X a week instead - i.e on the days you're doing your longer cardio sessions now. Remember, that when you account for differences in the amount of calories burned during exercise, it's been found that for every calorie burned while exercising, people doing HIIT end up with more fat loss per calorie expended than a steady state cardio group of people. In fact, one study found HIIT groups had a fat loss 9 X greater than a steady state cardio group. So, if your goal is fat loss, HIIT has some fat loss benefits over steady state cardio.

That said, it you were to do ( for example ) 45 - 60 minutes of steady cardio, it is still possible you might burn just as many or a few more overall calories than HIIT. HIIT just does it in less time. And that is the idea, to get the maximum results in the minimum amount of time.


Suppose it gets down to the primary reason you're doing one form of cardio over another. Any cardio will contribute to a calorie deficit, and thus, fat loss. HIIT cardio simply does it quicker and in less time than jogging for 30-35mins for example the primary purpose. Also, if you do cardio for cardio / fitness conditioning I suspect the HIIT protocol from Alwyn will improve both your aerobic conditioning and anaerobic conditioning at least as much as jogging for 30-35mins would - if not more. In the end I suppose it depends on what goals you are trying to achieve by jogging for 30-35mins.

My approach as always been to ' train smart ' - not longer. Again, the idea is to get the maximum results in the minimum amount of time and if the results you want are optimal fat loss and improved aerobic conditioning and anaerobic conditioning I think a HIIT protocol like Alwyn's would serve you well.

If it were me, I'd opt to do Alwyns' HIIT protocol 3X a week, drop the Tabata protocols altogether and maybe squeeze in 1 or 2 longer cardio sessions . But that's just me.

thanks a lot.I am going to to 3 times cardio 2 times HIIT but 99% of the case I have football 3-4 times a week helping me in that aspect. about cardio again, is it true that I shouldnt do cardio/HIIT on an empty stomach? or is that just a myth..

Chillen, can you help me with my diet please? My final parts to make it perfect. Am I having enough carbs, enough proteins etc? If I continue to follow this pattern will I succeed? I would like you to exaplin to me what I asked some posts ago about the zig-zagging:

" is it possible to provide me (with my list of foods which I eat) a sample schedule of what I have to eat on different days since you told me make a zig-zag diet. I never quite heard of it except in your posts.

What should I eat on a surplus calorie day and on a defecit calorie day? And which days of my week should the surplus calorie days be and which days should my defecit calorie days be? (Personally, my mind tells me that surplus calorie days should be done on the days I workout no? and defecit days on when i rest? I might be wrong here..) I dont know if you can understand what Im asking.."


Today I was the least ever I was: 66kg after having breakfast that is. Next days il check upon my waistline. I guess changing routine for a week seemed to efffect. Im going back to full body workout (new programme tough) routine from tommorow.

what I eat today (rest day)
breakfast-10am (woke up late) 1 and a half servings special k cereal + 3 eggs (2 whites) + apple
12pm- chicken breast + large veg salad+ 3 slices fat free cheese
was out the whole day drank a lot of water throughout
8pm- large veg. salad with can of tuna + 3 egg whites+ 3 turkey slices+3 fat free cheese slices + 5 black olives.

It's still a matter of debate - some think cardio on an empty stomach ( usually in the morning ) bumps fat loss a bit - some don't think it matters much at all. Also, you don't want to do cardio after a moderate to large meal either - for the obvious reasons - which may be some of the rationale for doing cardio on an empty stomach..

But for myself and any players I've coached, I've always suggested they have some sort of nutrition before any exercise - even if it's only a light snack. Even more so if it's morning cardio - when your blood sugar levels may be low. Doing cardio on low blood sugar may cause you to fatigue earlier than if you'd eaten something first. So, a light snack of slower burning carbs a half hour ( or more ) before cardio will help keep your blood sugar a bit closer to normal.

In any event (in terms of fat loss ) you're going to be doing HIIT - and that'll be more than enough of a ' fat shredder ' to meet your needs IMO.

Actually I'm really looking forward to having Chillen explain how his form of a ' zig-zag ' diet works as well.

thanks for the info. can I ask a bit about fruit and meat? how many fruit ina day when cutting and what is the best time to have them? and what about meat, which is good and bad?

This is a good guideline to follow whether you are looking to add muscle or lose fat IMO......



John Berardi - 7 Habits


...so you simply want to eat lean ( lower fat ) cuts of meat and whole natural pieces of fruit if you can. Fruit won't make you fat. Fatty meats won't make you fat either - excess calories beyond what your body needs will make you fat.

So if you want to ' shred fat ' , you simply need to create a sound nutritional plan keeping those 7 points above in mind, and create a calorie deficit by means of adjusting your intake of calories and or your expenditure of calories through exercise and lifestyle changes.

as for today i eat:

5.30am-woke up and went for a 15min walk and 10 min jog.
630am-breakfast- 2 oatmeals + 1 apple + yogurt fat free + 3 eggs (2 whites)
11am- small veg salad with 1/2 can of tuna
1pm- larger veg salad with 1/2 can of tuna
5pm- 1 brown bread sandwich + 3 turkey slices+5 black olives+some capers+2 tomatoes
5.30-7pm -full body workout + abs
7.45pm- 1 pear+ 2 portions fish + veg corslaw+2 egg whites
9pm- handful of almonds + 2 slices fat free cheese.

any comments please? remember my goal is cutting..

Based on the above - how many calories did you take in today ?