General Question (And Rant)

[Tenacity]

Just a general question to the community over here. I'm trying to figure out as I continue my fitness goals, why in the hell does the fitness community as a whole seem very inconsistent?

It would appear to me that fitness is based on scientific foundations, which means that while you might have 4 different guys doing the same scientific study, if they are truly experts in the field, they should all get about the same results. Correct?

But for the life of me, the fitness community is so damn inconsistent and it's hard to truly understand and find answers to what you are looking for, because the answers change quicker than your ability to ask the questions.

For example, on the topic of Cardio:

One guy says: Don't do cardio, it burns up too much muscle, just strength train and eat right.

Another guy says: Do cardio, but only do it early in the morning on an empty stomach and using HITT.

Another guy says: Do cardio, but don't do it on an empty stomach and don't use HITT, do a lighter cardio version.

Who the hell do you listen to? All three guys in this case would usually be in pretty good shape, so whatever strategy they are following is working for THEM, but which strategy would work for me?

Is the entire fitness procedure really an individual based system? Which means, what works for Tenacity might not work for you? What worked for you might not work for Tenacity? Or can everybody truly get the same results (or about the same results) by following a particular path?

Another example, the eat 6 meals a day recommendation. I cannot eat 6 meals a day, number one I don't have enough damn time and two, when I FOLLOWED that strategy, I was gaining weight! And it wasn't muscle either.

What's been working for me is to eat 3-4 small/moderate meals a day with 6-8 hour duration in between them. That's what's been working for me, but guys on here who swear by 6 meals a day will say that my eating plan is stupid and I should convert to the 6 meals a day, even though the 6 meals a day wasn't working and my eating plan is working.

It's so freaking confusing man. And I'm starting to get to the point of thinking that most of the fitness gurus themselves really have no clue. It's similar to Stock Brokers, they will make claims that they know where a Stock is going based on their analysis, but nobody really has a freaking clue. For every 10 experts that say a Stock is going up, you have 10 experts that say it's going down, who the fvck is right??

 

[Tictac]

'Fitness' means different things to different people.

People have different interest and knowledge levels.

 

[Tenacity]

Espi,

Yes, I second this, I even had one guy tell me that I shouldn't eat corn lol. I'm am no FITNESS guru by any means, but what I'm finding that's working for me is the following:

- I do about 35 workout sessions a month. 10 sessions are Chest/Tri/Shoulders, 10 sessions are Legs/Back/Biceps, and 15 sessions are just Abs.

- I have my eating plan where 80% of the time (24 or 25 days out of the month), I'm eating healthy sources keeping my calories for a 24 hour cycle between 2,000 - 2,200. I will take about 1 cheat meal a week during the month but it's not a PIG OUT session, just one meal where I eat whatever I want. Those are only 4-5 meals a month give or take, all other meals are the healthy sources. I use Fasting a lot between meals and on average I have 3-4 meals throughout the 24 hour time period where two of those meals are Protein Shake meals only, then the other two are balanced meals with moderate portions that include baked meat/veggie/apples.

- My supplements are ON Whey Gold Standard, ON Opti-Men, Fish Oil and Green Tea Extract.

 

[Tenacity]

My eating plan goes as follows:

Meal One: Protein Shake

3-4 hours pass

Meal Two: Small piece of baked pork chop, corn, apple, and water.

6-8 hours pass

Meal Three: Baked chicken wings, green beans, apple, and water.

6-8 hours pass but this is usually sleep time or nape time give or take

(repeat above)

24 Hour Cycle with two Protein Shake Meals and two Regular Meals comes out to the following within that 24 hour time period:

Calories: 2,100 - 2,260
Proteins: 218 grams
Carbs: 84 grams

 

[Leaf]

You also have to take into account every person's body shape and build is different. What works for one person, may not for another. Espi is right because at the end of the day, the one putting in the hard yards will get the results. How long it will take not to mention the end result will vary but he will get the results regardless.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

There are many different ways to get a result. The question I am always interested in, is what is the OPTIMAL way to get the result.

And through trial and error, the optimal way for me was to basically drop cardio for the most part and incorporate it into my lifting so that I am performing both at the same time.

German Composition Training is quite effective at really dropping body fat---it basically pairs medium rep counts with a lower body exercise paired with a upper body exercise(preferably compound) in a superset...

For instance:

A1 Squats 8-12 reps 30X0(tempo)
A2 Pull ups 8-12 reps 30X0
Rest 30-60 seconds and repeat 2-4 times

B1 Walking DB Lunges 12-15 reps total
B2 Shoulder Military Press 10-12 reps
Rest 30-60 seconds and repeat 2-4 times

C1 Leg Presses 15-20 reps 30X0
C2 Bench Press 10-12 reps 30X0
Rest 30-60 seconds and repeat 2-4 times

This pushes your heartrate up, builds lactic acid, which in turn causes big time growth hormone release by the body, which eats up fat. This also causes EPOC, or the "afterburn" effect where your body expends a huge quantity of energy to get back to normal after working so hard...

So you are doing compound exercises with little rest in between sets and getting a cardio workout at the same time...

much more effective than straight cardio alone...

 

[Tenacity]

Espi,

I'm going to get some pictures posted here this weekend, I have to send some to Effort as well. The issue with me is still the bottom abs, the flab there just won't leave.