I am always on the search for objective truth when it comes to health and fitness. Even though I have been a personal trainer for 2 decades and have much experience with many different body types and issues, I still have questions. When I have the opportunity to do a controlled study to answer the questions I have, I will document it here.
Case study 1.
One of my personal goals from my training is to get as big, muscular and strong as possible. I used to want to be a bodybuilder because I loved the look and confidence bodybuilders display. I have made great gains from the brief, intense workouts I do (the only way I was able to make progress), but I never achieved bodybuilder size. Most bodybuilders say they use a split routine, spending 90 minutes a workout 5 days a week, and that is what is necessary to build size. Needless to say, I found this confusing. Is their success due to genetics, the training program, or steroids? I think I know the answers, but I never had the chance to work with a big guy until now. Shad is a fitness buff, played many sports in high school and college, and is big and muscular. He agreed to work with me for one month with the HYSTRENGTH(sm) training program to assist me in finding these answers. The following is the story and journey.
Workout: When I first met Shad, I assumed he did the typical marathon split routine that is common. Upon our discussions, I learned he tried that approach, and he would burn out and stopped making progress. Over time he realized that training harder and less frequently worked better for making gains. He does split up his body parts and trains them separately, but he does it four times a week with 48 hours rest in between. This discussion already answered 2 of my questions (genetics does play a role, and rest and recovery is very important....if someone trains every day and makes progress, he is quite likely taking steroids).
Diet: He knows nutrition. No question about it. He knows he needs 5000 calories a day if he wants to get bigger and stronger, and 4000 calories a day to get leaner.....with nutrient dense foods. If he goes any lower than that, he loses strength almost immediately. In know that is true because I notice the same things with my diet too. To compare, I need 3500 calories a day for maintenance, 3800 calories for adding some strength, and roughly 3000 to 3300 calories a day to lose body fat. Any lower and I lose strength and size almost within a week. After taking his measurements which will be listed below, I decided he should take in 4000 calories a day and add the Hystrength(sm) training program. His body fat is around 19% (still showing his abs at this point).
My hypothesis: I believe that with the Hystrength (sm) training program coupled with the 4000 calories diet, Shad will get stronger, leaner, and bigger. At the very least, he will maintain his size and strength while getting leaner. If either scenario plays out, that will tell me that even with a big, buff guy, gains can be made with the HYSTRENGTH(sm) training program.
Measurements: Weight: 222 pounds with clothes on, roughly 220 pounds naked. Girth Measurements: Arms: 17.5 inches right arm, 17.5 inches left arm (people, that is big!) Chest: 46 1/4 inches Waist: 35 inches Thighs: 24.5 right, 24.5 inches left (over sweatpants) Skin fold: Bicep: 5 mm Tricep: 7 mm Subscap: 14 mm Suprailliac: 24mm Total: 50mm Put against the chart, his body fat is around 19%. Personally, I suspect it is lower, around 16%. Still, it can be lower while he increases strength.
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Looking at the photos, it is clear that Shad is already buff and big. He is holding some body fat around the lower back. That will decrease noticeably by the end of the study.
As of 11/22/2010, Shad completed 4 workouts. He was very sore after the first workout, and lost a little strength in his legs on the second workout. By workout #4, he is seeing strength increases. He says he has never worked as hard as what I put him through in those 30 minutes. I noticed more tone in his arms already. He is responding well. The way it looks, he may also gain about a 1/2 inch on his arms while leaning out. We'll find out at the end of the study.
End of study on 12/22/2010. As expected, Shad improved his strength noticeably, and lost body fat and increased his inches. Comparing the photos above, he shows more definition all around, and his abs show more too. You can also see a broader upper back and narrower waist to boot. Here are the measurements:
According to the body fat chart, Shad started at about 19% body fat and ended at 15%. But as you can see, his abs were already showing before we started. I think his true body fat started at 14% and he ended around 11%, if not lower. He also gained 4 pounds of body weight while getting leaner. Based on these numbers, Shad lost 6.11 pounds of fat and gained 11.97 pounds of muscle in a little over a month. This is remarkable. I expected Shad to lose about 4 to 6 pounds of fat (right in my prediction), but to gain two, maybe three pounds of muscle because he is already pretty well developed. Over ten pounds is amazing. Other observations: Shad owns a remodeling business and works hard during the day. This makes it harder for him to recover fully from his workouts. If he had a less physically demanding job, he would have recovered better between workouts and would have made better gains in the gym. If we had Shad at 5000 calories a day, he may have made better strength gains, but he would have maintained his body fat levels. No question he has above average genetics for muscle gains. He has more fast twitch muscle fibers than the average person. He could pursue a drug free bodybuilding career and be successful with it. Shad's remarks about the HYSTRENGTH(sm) training program: As with every body that does physically demanding work, Shad's lower back bothers him. He noticed less chronic pain and better stability in this area after working with me. He also wishes he knew about this style of training when he played sports. He said it is the best conditioning program he experienced. His coaches would have him do too much while training and he couldn't fully recover. He felt this program did just that. He also said that he was able to gain both strength and conditioning at the same time with the HYSTRENGTH(sm) training program, whereas with a conventional weight training program he was able to gain strength, but not conditioning, and when he would focus on conditioning, he would lose strength. One other observation from Shad: he never felt like he was getting stronger; all the workouts were hard. This, of course, is not true. He was getting stronger consistently, but the workouts always were adjusted to his strength at the time. That is why he made continued progress.
Case Study 2
Tim is what is known in the bodybuilding circles as a hard gainer. He has a very lean look due to the type of exercise he has done in the past (aerobic in nature), and his body type. Looking at his photos, you can see his leanness. I want to point out another fact: look at the gap between his bicep and elbow joint. There is a big gap, meaning that he has less cross sectional muscle mass than someone who has a smaller gap (compare him to Shad above and see the difference). As he gets stronger and puts on more muscle, this gap will not diminish. I have noticed this over the years of training different body types. He will get stronger and bigger, but he will not reach the strength and size Shad can. We are training 3 times a week, and I have him eating the same amount of calories he has been before we started working. I am doing this to establish a baseline of calories he needs. When he starts to hit a plateau, I will increase his calories about 500 a day for a couple of weeks. Here are his measurements as of January 1, 2011:
Skinfold; Bicep: 3 mm Tricep: 4mm Subscap: 9 mm Suprailliac: 10 mm Total: 26 mm
Body fat % 10.5. I believe this to be accurate. Looking at his photos, you can see his muscles very clearly along with his abs. What he really needs is more muscle. We will focus on that.
Hypothesis: I have more experience working with people like Tim in contrast to guys like Shad. Tim will gain muscle, but it will be slower, and he won't gain as much as Shad. Over time Tim can put on 20 to 30 lbs of muscle, maybe more. That will really change his look. He would do well to put on 10 lbs in the first 6 months.
Update: As of 02/7/2011, Tim increased his leg press strength from180 lbs to 340 lbs, dumbell press from 25lbs to 45lbs, and his pulldowns from 75lbs to 95lbs. These are good, steady gains. He is on track.
Update: As of 04/11, Tim gained some muscle and lost some fat. The bottom photos show that. He is still lean, and I had him eat more than he used to. Here are the measurements: Weight: 162 Girth: Arms: Right: 12 1/2 inches Left: 12 3/8 inches Chest: 36 3/8 inches Waist: 32 3/4 inches Thigh: Right: 20 1/4 inches Left: 20 1/4 inches
Skinfolds: Bicep: 2mm Tricep: 4 1/2 mm Subscap: 8 1/2 mm Supra: 6 mm Total: 21 mm This equates to about 9% body fat. Down from 10.5%. So all in all, he gained about 2 1/2 pounds of muscle, and lost maybe 4 to 5 pounds of fat. He is doing about how I expected. At this pace, he will gain about 12 to 15 pounds of muscle over the course of a year. He will show it as well. Here are his lifts: Leg press 720 lbs for 12 reps Pulldown 125 for 8 reps Dumbbell press 57.5 for 10 reps
So as you can see, he is strong. And getting stronger. Stay tuned.
Comments: Tim has steadily increased his total weight and muscle mass while still getting leaner as well. He has gained a total of 6 1/2 pounds of scale weight, and lost 2 1/2% body fat. Here is the final breakdown: Tim has lost 3 1/2 pounds of fat while gaining 9 1/2 pounds of muscle. This is after 4 1/2 months of training. With this consistency, he can surely gain anywhere from 20 to 30 pounds of muscle over the next 2 years. Tim has been eating as much as he can. He needs to fuel the workouts and gain size. Even though we haven't paid much attention to total calories, he still lost body fat. That will slow down. He is about as lean as he needs to be, and the body will probably not release any more fat unless we curb his calories a bit. We will not do that because he is lean enough and we want to focus more on building muscle. As I mentioned when I first started working with Tim, he is a hard gainer. Even though he gained over 9 pounds of muscle, it is hard to tell in these photos. I can see it when I train him, he can see it and feel it, but what I want to point out is that for it to be really noticeable with everybody else, he will need to gain another 10 pounds of muscle. Then it would really show that he is strong and "buff" by definition. This, folks, is how it really is for most people trying to get a buff body...hard, consistent work...and time. Tim is doing really well in that sense. Kudos to you, Tim. Keep it up. Some lifts: Barbell squat: 225 for 11 reps Leg press: 840 for 12 reps Bench press: 175 for 5 reps Dumbbell press: 65 for 9 reps Chins: 9 reps on his own
Clearly getting stronger...
Update: Tim is done with the program. He moved to California a week ago. The last 3 photos are taken before he left. As you can see, he is getting thicker. You can also see that compared to Shad above that genetics play a big role. Clearly he will never get the thickness Shad can, but he is getting bigger and stronger. His final lifts were: 335 pound squats, 980 pound leg press, and a 165 pound bench press. He gained a total of 10 pounds in the course of a year. I believe that if he sticks with it (he says he is hooked. I believe him), he can gain another 10 pounds and look awesome. Congrats Tim!
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Case Study 3
I have been training my son, Dylan, on and off for the last 2 years due to his sports. During football, we cannot focus on his exercise program because football takes all his time and he needs to recover for his practices and games. He also sprained his ankle in the last game of the season so we could not start his program when we wanted to. However, we did start back up on December 22, 2010. Here are the stats:
Skinfold: Bicep: 6mm Tricep: 12mm Subscap: 24mm Supra illiac: 24mm Total: 55m Body fat: 20%
As a side note, he has gained 2 inches in his arms, lost an inch in his waist, gained 2 1/2 inches in his arms, and gained 2 inches in his legs and lost 4% body fat since I first started working with him in 2009. That is actually quiet good for sporadic work. He also improved his strength 120lbs on leg press, 15lbs on dumbell press, and 32 1/2lbs on his pull-down. I think he can do 70lb dumbell presses and an 800lb leg press by football season if we can be consistent. Stay tuned.
We have been fairly consistent with his over the last 2 months. As you can see, not much change according to the photos. He is a little leaner and a little more toned. He has gained 3 1/2 pounds of scale weight while losing about 1 percent body fat. His strength gains, on the other hand, are remarkable. He was doing leg presses with 450 pounds to start, and did 620 pounds as of these photos. He also increased his pulldowns from 87.5 pounds to 117.5 pounds, his dumbell press from 40 pounds to 55 pounds, and he is now strong enough to do chin ups and bench press with 175 pounds. These are very good numbers. This brings up a very important point about reshaping the body: It takes time and hard work! Even though Dylan is in his growth spurt phase, putting on muscle is hard work. I noticed the same thing. For years I worked hard...very hard and I didn't seem to grow. Howver, over time my body did change rather remarkably...but it took time. Same with my most consistent clients. After about 2 years of hard work, thier bodies finally saw the big changes. Before I trained Dylan with this intensity, he thought the workouts weren't that hard, and even though I look good, he assumed it would be easier to put on muscle than it is. Boy, was he surprised! He still is training hard, and he is certainly on target to do an 800 pound leg press for reps by football season. His body will change. As a matter of fact, his muscle finally started looking fuller and thicker a week after the photos. There should be some noticeable changes the next time we take photos.
I was able to train Dylan somewhat consistently druing this go around. As you can see, he has gained muscle. 14 1/2 pounds to be exact. He started offseason football practice in June, and he is now one of the strongest and better conditioned players on his team. He is doing barbell squats with 235 pounds, dumbbell presses with 65 pounds, and chin ups with 10 pounds attached to his waist. Very strong! One other thing we noticed...he did not lose any body fat. I did not restrict his calories because I assumed that with the workouts and his growth spurt he would still lose body fat. I was wrong. In August we are going to cut his calories back about 500 a day of junk food and keep everything else the same. I expect he will still see good strength gains and start showing his ab muscles. What's interesting is the difference between Dylan and me when I was his age. I did not watch my calories but still leaned out when I would exercise this much. I believe that goes to show the difference in the quality of food back in my day comnpared to now. There is a lot more high fructose corn syrup (didn't have that in my day) and overall calories in prepared foods these days. We must all be more aware of foods and make better, more informed eating choices.
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Case study 4.
Sharon is preparing for a bikini figure contest in August. It is now Late February. Our strategy is simple: 2 months out of the contest, she will cut her calories down to about 1200 a day, focusing on cutting carbs more than protein and fat. We will also increase her activity by adding cardio during her off days of strength training. Most likely, she will see a decrease of strength by about 20 to 30%, maybe more. Come contest time, she will be will be in an ovetrained state...we know that. It will be temporary, so she will be fine. Her goal will be to lose about 5 to 7 pounds of fat while maintaining her muscle as best a she can. Believe me, this will be difficult! She will feel deprived, and probably cranky for a while. Looking at her photos, you can see that she is in great shape. She already has good tone, shape and definition. We just need to flush it out a little better.
That is very lean. I'd put her at about 17 to 18% bodyfat. If we can get her down to 14 to 15%, she will do well.
03/23/2011-Update: I have added photos of Sharon before she started the HYSTRENGTH(sm) training program. The first one with her friend shows her lack of tone and definition (even though she is skinny). The second one is her doing an exercise after about 3 months of training. As you can see, she had more tone than the photo before, but still carrying more body fat than she has in the later photos. You can also see the mid section is still carrying some fat. In the photos where she is wearing the black top which were taken a year ago, you can see the narrow waist that she does not have in the earlier photos. She also has more definition in her arms and legs. The photos where she is wearing the purple top was taken about a month ago (March, 2011). You can see even more tone and shape in her arms, legs, and cuts in her abs and more lift in her glutes than the photos a year ago. These are the changes a good strength training can provide. By the way, aerobic training cannot do that, no matter how much you try. Click on the photos to get acloser look. Update: June 28th, 2011. Sharon has been on 1500 calories a day for almost a month now. She kept her workout program the same...no aerobic training. The latest photos show what she has done. She is remarkably leaner. As a matter of fact, she is just about ready for contest time. Right on schedule. She has decided not to compete. She has reached her goal, and we both feel that if she gets any leaner, she will look too gaunt in the face and be unhealthy. The main goal was to see if one can get in contest shape without a crazy eating pattern close to contest time. Sharon has done that. We now know that we can help someone get contest ready with our eating and training program...without going crazy. Update: August 30, 2011. Sharon did it! She is weighing 106 pounds and has a body fat percentage of 15%. As you can see from th latest photos, she could go out for a contest and do well. She is able to maintain this without too much sacrifice as well...
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Case Study 5.
Kat is getting married in October 2011 and she wants to be in good shape for the wedding. She wants to look good in her wedding dress. Sharon is working with her three times a week, and Kat is averaging about 1300 calories a day (it may be a little low, but we will start there). As you can see from her photos, she is slender but doesn't have much tone. This is typical for someone her age. Measurements show she is carrying about 29% body fat, which makes her skinny fat. Our goal is to help her gain muscle and lose fat at the same time to bring about a high level of tone and definition. The three time a week with the HYSTRENGTH (sm) training program should do just that. Here are the measurements:
Update: 03/25/2011 The photos on the bottom are taken on 03/25/2011. You will notice that Kat is leaner in through the waist and hips from the front and back. She looks pretty lean in both photos from the side. Weight: 132lbs. Skinfolds: Bicep: 11mm Tricep: 16mm Subscap: 9mm Suprailliac: 12mm Total: 48mm Bodyfat: 23-25%. This is a big drop from the 29% body fat she was at when she started. She has lost about 2 pounds of scale weight, and lost 4 to 5 % body fat. She probably gained about 3 pounds of muscle in that time. Very good. Reviewing her diet (she is using the online calculater we recommend. It is working well.), she is averaging about 1300 to 1400 calories a day. This is perfect. Next time we take photos, I believe you will see more definition in her legs and arms along with a leaner waist. Stay tuned.
Skinfolds: Bicep: 9mm Tricep: 20mm Subscap: 10mm Supra: 13mm Total: 48mm Body fat: 23 -25% Comments: Kat did not do as well as expected. She was around 1700 calories a day, and she trained only once a week with Sharon (she did 3 times a week the last series). I also noticed when she worked out that afterwords she was not as "cooked" as she should be. I trained her for a session and nailed her harder on form. By doing this, she had to drop her weight about 20% on most lifts, meaning her form suffered as she added weight. She felt it. She had to take it easy for about an hour or so after the workout (the way it should be). This is a very common mistake. I see many lifters in the gym do the same thing; i.e they add weight and do the set. They then think they are stronger. In reality, they either did a shorter ROM or did the reps fatser, or maybe bounced the bar or started heaving the weight. In other words, more weight but no more overload! Sharon and I got Kat back with proper form and intensity, and Sharon has her back down to 1500 calories a day. The changes should come more clearly next time.
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Case study 6.
Lori, just like Sharon, is preparing for a fitness contest. She is consistent with her workouts and she has been averaging around 1500 calories a day. She uses the online calorie counter we have on our website. It works very well for our purposes. The one thing we need to be sure of is the intensity being where she needs it to be to prepare her for the contest. She is working with Sharon twice a week, and she does a workout with me once every 2 weeks to make sure the intensity is there. So far so good. Her photos show that she has good shape now, but she needs more tone. Hard, intense work over the next few months should do the trick. Here are her measurements:
Lori has been on her diet fo 1200 calories a day for about a week by now. The girth measurements are not giving us an accurate measure (measuring off about an inch or so makes all the difference), but the skinfolds and scale weight tell us she is headed the right direction. She is down about 4% body fat in and lost 3 pounds of scale weight in a couple of weeks. That is very good progress. You can see the muscles pop a little more, and that will get more noticeable as we go along. You can also see her waist getting smaller. She started working with a nutritionist who is well versed in contest preperation. She has Lori down to 1200 calories a day with no fruit and only eating chicken, sweet potatoes, and oatmeal (ouch!!). We see the changes in her just about every workout. She is struggling with energy and motivation already, and she has a couple more months to go. It gets down to pure will power from here on out.
Update: 05/12/2011. Lori has stopped training at this juncture. She had family issues that took priority. As I mentioned earlier, she also srtuggled with motivation, and she really does not want to work that hard again. It was more due to diet than the exercise program. She was always hungry and struggled with strength and energy. I am not surprised. To be that lean is a big sacrifice and hard to maintain. She will continue to exercise and stay in shape, but she has no desire to compete.
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Case Study 7
One question that we need to answer in a definitive way is the impact menopause has on fat loss and body reshaping. Conventional wisdom says that after menopause, a woman's metabolism slows down 20%. Another given is that women will develop a "barrel" look around the mid section. In other words, women will lose their hour glass shape. If a post menopausal woman embarks on an aerobic training program, I know that this will happen. She will lose badly needed muscle which creates the hour glass shape, but if she does intense strength training, it may be a different story. Sharon and I believe that most women do not do hard strength training, especially after menopause, and this is the main reason we believe women lose their figure. This case study is with a post menopausal woman doing the HYSTRENGTH(sm) training program coupled with a good diet. We will note the results as we go along.
Diet: Susan is measuring her food in ounces instead of calories. She only eats three times a day. She eats a high proetin diet because she says she is addicted to carbs. Once she has some carbs, she can't stop. I have heard of this before, and in my opinion a higher protein diet in this case makes sense. She takes a scale to measure her foods wherever she goes, even when she goes out to dinner. That is discipline! her measurements are as follows:
Skinfolds: Bicep: 4mm Tricep: 7mm Subscap: 10mm Supra: 8mm Total: 29mm Body fat: 18 to 19%
Susan's weight stayed the same, but her skinfolds dropped noticeably. It went from 44mm down to 29mm. Running the calculations, she lost 8.77 pounds of fat. She mest have gained a fair amount of muscle as well. It is hard to tell from the photos where the fat loss came from. The shirt she wore in the first series of photos covered up her stomach and looks like it kind of tucked everything in. But you can see she is getting an hour glass shape. If she sticks with it, she can be much leaner in 6 months. Susan is showing me that with determination and focus, the body can change after menopause. Keep it up, Susan.
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Case study 8:
Dianne had breast cancer and had to have a double mastectomy along with chemo therapy. After therapy her doctor gave her the go ahead to start exercising and she tore her rotator cuff muscles and had to have surgury. She decicded to hire me after that to moniter her exercise activity to prevent injury and apply proper progression to her workouts. This case study is more like a journal of her ongoing training, her progress and setbacks. We are going to see what can happen.
Since working with me she has improved her strength quite remarkably. Here are her numbers.
January 1, 2011:
Wall squat 10 reps with no weight Cable press on ball 1 1/4 pounds for 7 reps Standing pull 4 plates for 11 reps Tricep extension 4 1/2 plates for 12 reps Curls 5lbs for 12 reps
Her core was very weak. We started with basic core exercises. She also had weak rotator cuff muscles which we have been focusing on.
March 2, 2011.
Leg press 60 lbs for 15 reps (she was so weak the first day we didn't do leg presses)
Standing pull 9 plates for 16 reps Dumbbell press on ball 12.5 lbs for 12 reps (chest muscles and rotator cuff muscles too weak to start with this) She is now doing more advanced core exercises like arc on ball and leg lifts. It is a remarkable improvement in a short amount of time. She trains hard and doesn't hold back. It shows. Keep checking back for ongoing updates.
