I know I have managed to convert a few over to the calorie counting way of life, and when done with an open mind the benefits speak for themselves. I have a friend who has attempted to lose weight in the past - someone who has a very busy lifestyle, a demanding job and an active social life in the evenings. Exercise is always at the bottom of his list of things to do, although recently I have seen little flurries of gym visits with a sprinkling of cardio - this may be a turning point!
Trying to lose weight or drop body fat % without exercise is not ideal, but it does work, and in some ways it's the perfect way to start off. I hear a lot of people telling me "Right, from Monday I'm eating clean and hitting the gym 4 times a week!" After two weeks they are bored of the gym, and because of this they ditch it; but not just the gym, the diet gets kicked to the curb as well. Why? They are two separate entities, two contributing factors to weight/fat loss. If it happens and you have had enough of one, try and stick to the other. That way all is not lost, and you can still make a recovery in a few weeks when the guilt gets you.
Right then, back to my friend. I could tell that he wasn't 100% committed about adding all of his food into myfitnesspal, but after a few weeks of being persistent with it, and with my constant nagging, we started to see some results. This felt as good for me as it did for him - I was proud to be part of the achievement, and now calorie counting is just something he does, and he's lost weight without really having exercised that much and without it having any impact on his social life. Most importantly he has found something that works, and has longevity!
Yes at the start it can be a pain in the arse, but counting calories and monitoring what you eat does work.
Why guess what you can get bang on the first time?
Training
Monday 02/03/2011
Monday's session was one of the best I've had all year. Since starting to use the Olympic lifts as part of my session and spending so much time on form and technique I've had a few weeks off from other aspects of my compound lifts repertoire. I had been getting to grips with the front squat and I had been successfully building the weight up; I had topped out at 50kg for a set of 5. I remember it feeling really awkward and to be honest not very enjoyable.
Last night I started off as usual and warmed up my rotator cuff in preparation for some snatching. I worked my way up to a 50kg - I did 50kg three times and moved onto overhead squats. I felt really good on the overhead squats. I kept the weight the same but increased the amount of reps to 8 - I was really happy with this!
This is usually where I move onto to shoulder press, but I was feeling quite good with my previous achievements, and I wondered if training in this way would have strengthened my quads and core in the front squat. I put the 50kg on the bar (my previous 5 rep max over a month ago), it flew up and down and felt comfortable. I moved up to 60kg; again it felt quite good, no trouble at all so I thought I'd do one last set. I put 70kg on the bar (I weight 66kg at the moment). I managed 8 solid reps and that was after over head squats and about 30 snatches!
So after a month of using Olympic lifts twice a week, not really going that heavy but focusing on form and good technique, I have smashed my front squat PB and can now do just over my bodyweight for reps.
This is what it looked like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgtDVEsWvFY&feature=g-upl&context=G2391223AUAAAAAAAAAA
Monday's session
Snatches - starting with an empty Olympic bar, working up with increments of 5kg every 5 reps until I hit 50kg
overhead squats - 40kg 3 x 8 reps
front squats - 3 sets 50kg x 5 60kg x5 70kg x 8
Shoulder press 100 reps with an empty Olympic bar in as many sets as it takes (6)
laying leg curls 100 reps on pin 5 as many sets as it takes (5)
seated calf raise 60kg 3 x 16
weighted crunches 3 x failure
wide grip pull ups 3 x failure
Feeling really good at the moment - diet is good, strength is good and fitness is good - ALL good.
Hope you are too!
Barbell Benny
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