I've been reading two eBooks about resistance/weight training and diet: burn the fat, feed the muscle; and the Holy Grail. I made some notes, because I'm geeky like that, and thought I'd share them with you:
- Repetition guidelines:
- Strength/Power 1 – 5 reps
- Hypertrophy (size) & some strength 6 - 12 reps
- Local endurance/ little size 12-20 reps
- Abs & Calves 10-25 reps
- More sets and exercises are not necessarily better. Better training means more intensity, good exercise form and continuous progression
- Eat both protein and carbs in the post workout meal. Carbs eaten after workouts will replenish glycogen, restore blood sugar, and cause a beneficial insulin spike, which will suppress the catabolic hormone cortisol, and drive amino acids into the muscle cells.
- Do cardio and weights separated into 2 sessions, if possible.
- To maintain good flexibility, you should stretch three or four times per week. To increase flexibility to the maximum level possible, you need to stretch on a daily basis.
- Goal Setting:
- Focus on one goal, not conflicting goals. 1) fat loss 2) Muscle gain 3) gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time (the Holy Grail!)
- Set long term and short term goals
- Goals must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound
- Body fat % classifications:
- Lean = 10 – 14%
- Ripped = 3 – 6%
