My Thoughts On Weight Training, Diet & Cardio

Here’s a few of my thoughts on weight training, diet and cardio. They are borne out of the experience and knowledge that I gained whilst transforming myself from fat and smooth:

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to lean and toned:

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Whilst getting stronger and (hopefully) adding some muscle.

Weight Training
Obviously a must if you want a decent physique. I use a HIT (High Intensity Training) approach to weight training. In essence, my approach is pretty simple: one working set to at least positive failure (the point where one cannot complete that last impossible rep) and sometimes static and negative failure, then move onto the next exercise with the minimum amount of rest and do the same. I utilise this within the framework of intense, short and infrequent workouts. Basically, the teachings of Mike Mentzer:

Provide stimulus (ALWAYS to failure) > recover > grow .... and repeat. Closely monitor performance/progress and adjust exercise 'dosage'/selection/application as necessary.

No multiple working sets. No NTF workouts. Slow, smooth and safe reps, about a 4/4 or 4/2/4 cadence. My current recovery period between weights sessions is 5 - 7 days.

I have found that my weight training routine has evolved over time by way of minor changes that I have made to keep progress going. However, the basic framework and structure remains the same. Personally, I don’t think there is any need to chop and change from routine to routine to ‘keep the body guessing’. This gives the false illusion of progress. If you focus on progress using a simple, effective routine and tweak it as and when required to maintain that progress, the results should speak for themselves.

Diet
You need to eat a clean, healthy and well balanced diet. From my experience, I have found that it is possible to drop the fat and still get stronger and add muscle. There is a fine balance though and if you eat too little you will regress on the strength and muscle gain front. Eat too much and you might get stronger and add muscle, but you'll obviously get fat.

Once you hit that 'sweet spot' stick with it but constantly monitor your weight and performance in the gym and check yourself out in the mirror. Also, I take various body part measurements and record them. Waist measurement is important for obvious reasons

When I was dropping the fat, I also found that taking photos at various stages in my 'transformation' helped my motivation tremendously when the positive results began to show. I still take random photos fairly regularly to compare them against older ones. When I was in my fat loss phase, I aimed to lose 1 - 2 pounds a week until I reached my desired level of leanness. Throughout this phase, I constantly monitored and adjusted my diet to keep the fat loss going whilst at the same time, getting stronger and more muscular. In a nutshell:

Eat > monitor > adjust accordingly.

Now that I've reached my desired level of leanness, I'm concentrating on getting stronger and adding more muscle mass whilst remaining lean. I think that carrying as much naturally attained muscle whilst staying lean goes along way to achieving my goal of maintaining good overall health.

I don't go in for the bulk, cut, bulk, cut approach. I don't think there's no need. For bulk, read 'getting fat'. The best way to show off your muscle and look good is to get yourself to a single figure body fat percentage and keep it there. To build muscle, you don't need to eat an excess of calories, you need to eat 'just the right amount'. Anything more than that 'right amount' will just get deposited as fat. The hard part is establishing what that 'right amount' is.

Cardio
I don’t think cardio is necessary to get yourself in great shape. If you enjoy it, go ahead and do it, but don’t ‘overdo’ it. If you do, it'll adversely affect your strength and muscle gains. If it’s a chore don’t bother. Personally, I do one or two (usually just one) brief, intense sessions a week on the Concept 2 rowing machine so that’s not a lot of cardio for me. I do it because I enjoy it and I like the challenge of beating PB times, not because I think it helps with fat loss or contributes towards keeping me 'fit'.

Whilst doing my HIT weights workouts, my heart rate reaches the same level, give or take a few beats per minute, as it does when I'm when I'm on the Concept 2 rowing machine, which I also give maximum effort to.

General Observations
The right weights routine + the right diet + patience + dedication + hard work + self discipline + adequate recovery = decent physique.

It's as simple as that. If you fall short on any of the aforementioned factors, you're scuppered and your results will suffer greatly.

Remember the golden rule for training is RESULTS! Are you getting stronger, more muscular and remaining lean? If you are then your exercise routine, diet and recovery time are all in the 'sweet spot'. You should always endeavour to get stronger in every exercise in every workout, either in reps, weight, TUL or all three. Don't be afraid to do less when in doubt and don't forget to constantly record/monitor everything and make adjustments as necessary to keep progressing.

Lastly, a quote to think about from Joshua Trentine:

"Exercise in absence of proper diet and adequate rest is counterproductive."

Feel free to discuss/agree/disagree/ask questions.

Glynn, can you put your youtube page on the resources sticky, along with PureHit's youtube site as well?

Good post.

I said it on Darden's site that I believe bulking is the biggest mistake I ever made, but at least I was 'young and dumb' at the time. And I believe anyone in their mid thirties and older is playing with fire health-wise, regardless of how the macro nutrients are partitioned.

Hi Glynn,

Those photos,particularly the avatar amaze me every time I see them. I have said it before,but what a fantastic transformation.

Regards
Mark

Mark HIT wrote:Hi Glynn,

Those photos,particularly the avatar amaze me every time I see them. I have said it before,but what a fantastic transformation.

Regards
Mark

Thanks for joining in Mark; suffice it to say that I think you will find everyone here has great respect for your input. Your videos have gone a long way to promote rational training, and I hope you will keep us updated here on the stuff you and James get up to.

Thanks for your kind words

Regards
Mark

sgb2112 wrote:Good post.

I said it on Darden's site that I believe bulking is the biggest mistake I ever made, but at least I was 'young and dumb' at the time. And I believe anyone in their mid thirties and older is playing with fire health-wise, regardless of how the macro nutrients are partitioned.

I've got to agree with you there. The number of bulk/cut questions on the Men's Health forums (UK) is ridiculous. The words make me cringe! I do this for the health benefits and 'bulking' (what I see as getting fat) plays no part in it.

Admin wrote:Glynn, can you put your youtube page on the resources sticky, along with PureHit's youtube site as well?

Will do, once I've figured out how to do it. I'm new to this moderator carry on. Now, where's my big stick?

Also, I thought it would be good to sticky Turpin's channel as well. He's got some great videos on there.

thebiggfella wrote:

Admin wrote:Glynn, can you put your youtube page on the resources sticky, along with PureHit's youtube site as well?

Will do, once I've figured out how to do it. I'm new to this moderator carry on. Now, where's my big stick?

Also, I thought it would be good to sticky Turpin's channel as well. He's got some great videos on there.

I actually made a sticky thread for videos and photos that I think will be a better place for them, and easier for everyone to contribute to.

Mark HIT wrote:Hi Glynn,

Those photos,particularly the avatar amaze me every time I see them. I have said it before,but what a fantastic transformation.

Regards
Mark

Thanks Mark, I appreciate that. All down to HIT, good diet and a desire to apply the knowledge that I learned off the likes of you, James and Bill Sahli.