Re: definition vs. mass?

[Guest guest]

Low bodyfat = definition. I don't believe reps mean too much with

regard to that. If you get to 15-16% bodyfat you'll see plenty of

definition. Better you lift heavier weights with reps in the 8-10 max

effort range because the more muscle mass you have the more calories

you'll burn just lounging around.

Stasia

> hi all,

>

> when i started bfl i had a pretty good amount of muscle mass, about

> 20-22% body fat. i'd really like to get down to about 15 - 16%. my

> boyfreind feels like i should not be adding more weight to my sets,

> but more reps. if i keep with the bfl program and add weight when

> needed am i going to add a lot of mass and not as much definition?

> i've read that more reps = more definition, but in the past that

> hasn't worked for me.

[Guest guest]

Definition doesn't have anything at all to do with muscle size or how heavy

you're lifting. It's about being thin-skinned, and the " thin skin " phenomenon is

all about fat loss. The heavier you lift and the harder you push yourself, the

more calories you're going to burn and the faster the fat will come off. Wimping

out on the weights just means that you'll burn less calories, build less muscle,

and take longer to reach your goal. It will make your fat loss that much harder.

So, no don't cut back on the weights at all. There's no reason to do that unless

you're looking to slow your progress. You're not going to get any bigger or

hamper your fat loss by lifting challenging weights. You can't " bulk up " without

a MAJOR calorie *surplus.* You should be fairly hungry and operating at a pretty

significant calorie *deficit* right now, so you have nothing to worry about

bulk/pudge-wise. Heavy weights will help you get lean faster!

definition vs. mass?

hi all,

when i started bfl i had a pretty good amount of muscle mass, about

20-22% body fat. i'd really like to get down to about 15 - 16%. my

boyfreind feels like i should not be adding more weight to my sets,

but more reps. if i keep with the bfl program and add weight when

needed am i going to add a lot of mass and not as much definition?

i've read that more reps = more definition, but in the past that

hasn't worked for me.

[Guest guest]

thanks, for the response. do you follow the bfl way, or have you

modified your workout?

> > hi all,

> >

> > when i started bfl i had a pretty good amount of muscle mass,

about

> > 20-22% body fat. i'd really like to get down to about 15 - 16%.

my

> > boyfreind feels like i should not be adding more weight to my

sets,

> > but more reps. if i keep with the bfl program and add weight

when

> > needed am i going to add a lot of mass and not as much

definition?

> > i've read that more reps = more definition, but in the past that

> > hasn't worked for me.

[Guest guest]

I still eat the BFL way but not the workout. I don't maintain a

calorie deficit unless I'm trying to lean out for summer

(currently).Wintertime is mostly a maintenance and/or muscle gain

menu which includes an extra 100 or so calories a day. My current

workout schedule is as follows:

Monday: abs and shoulders

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: abs, biceps, triceps

Thursday: chest and back

Friday: abs and shoulders

cardio every other day. Weekends off. No free day, only a free meal

or two per week. I change the exercises fairly often per bodypart.

Cardio is usually 30 minutes on a stairstepper or about a 3.5 mile

run outdoors.

Stasia

> > > hi all,

> > >

> > > when i started bfl i had a pretty good amount of muscle mass,

> about

> > > 20-22% body fat. i'd really like to get down to about 15 - 16%.

> my

> > > boyfreind feels like i should not be adding more weight to my

> sets,

> > > but more reps. if i keep with the bfl program and add weight

> when

> > > needed am i going to add a lot of mass and not as much

> definition?

> > > i've read that more reps = more definition, but in the past

that

> > > hasn't worked for me.

[Guest guest]

I have a question somewhat similar to this thread. Last year when I

did BFL, I did great, but then after those 3 months, I was lost. I

had no direction! I just finished the 12 weeks, and am looking to

change. My DH really wants me to get off of BFL and do heavier

weights, with lower reps. I tried to do this before, but can't seem

to get out of the BFL mode.

I lifted weights for years before BFL, being in the weight room for

almost 2 hours a day, and never got the results I did with BFL. So

where do I go from here? I have all this knowledge about

weightlifting but am unfortunately unable to apply it! Do I continue

to follow the BFL training, and just increase my weights and change

the exercises, or do I go back to the 3 exercises per muscle group I

used to do? I just need a little direction here.

I have gotten over the " 12-week " mentality that I had last year, and

am able to do this for life now, but I don't want to become stagnant

and plateau. And also, where can I add a cardio class or something?

I love to do Tae Bo and yoga but don't know what days to add on. Any

feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Here is my workout schedule now:

Mon: Upper body:

Chest: dumbbell presses, 1 set of push ups

Back: cable rows, pulldowns

Shoulders: upright rows, front raises

Triceps: rope pulldowns, overheads

biceps: straight bar curls, concentration

Tues: cardio, run, ab bootcamp

Wed: Legs:

Quads: Leg presses, extensions

Hams: lying leg curls, lunges

Calves: standing raises, one-legged raises on a step

Abs: weighted machine, bicycles or thigh raises

Thurs, Cardio again

Friday: Upper again (vice versa on leg weeks)

Saturday: Cardio, run or bike

Thanks in advance, hope everyone is doing great!

> I still eat the BFL way but not the workout. I don't maintain a

> calorie deficit unless I'm trying to lean out for summer

> (currently).Wintertime is mostly a maintenance and/or muscle gain

> menu which includes an extra 100 or so calories a day. My current

> workout schedule is as follows:

>

> Monday: abs and shoulders

> Tuesday: Legs

> Wednesday: abs, biceps, triceps

> Thursday: chest and back

> Friday: abs and shoulders

>

> cardio every other day. Weekends off. No free day, only a free

meal

> or two per week. I change the exercises fairly often per

bodypart.

> Cardio is usually 30 minutes on a stairstepper or about a 3.5 mile

> run outdoors.

>

> Stasia

[Guest guest]

You could change up your workout some and add enough weight to keep

hitting your 10s after 8-10 reps of each set. For chest you could

add flyes, and you didn't say whether you used a straight or incline

bench but could do incline presses. You could also finish with a pec

deck if you have gym access.

In addition to your back routine you could add bent over rows using

a barbell or EZ bar, or plain dumbbells, one arm dumbbell rows

leaning on a bench with your opposite hand and knee, then switch

sides, and even attempt some pull ups.

Shoulders, definitely add lateral raises and bent over lateral

raises to balance out the three heads of the deltoid. If you only do

front deltoid moves you'll end up looking like a gorilla with

overdeveloped front shoulders. Overhead presses hit all three heads

and Arnold presses give a slightly wider range of motion.

For triceps you could add some french presses(skullcrushers) and

tricep kickbacks using a similar position as the one arm dumbbell

rows for the back.

Biceps, try some hammer curls and some 21s. seven curls from the

bottom to the halfway point, seven from the halfway point to the

upper limit of the move, and seven from bottom to top, all without

stopping. Talk about burn. Also to finish them off, try chin ups

using an assist machine. You may not be able to do many at first but

eventually if you keep adding one or two as you are able, you'll be

able to do quite a few and lower your resistance till you're doing

it with your body weight from a dead hang.

Add some squats for your quads, either with a bar across your traps

or simply using dumbbells.

Deadlifts, either with a bar or dumbbells are awesome for hamstrings

and your lower back also receives benefit from this too.

You can also use the leg press machine to do calves as well, just

run the seat back a little.

For abs you could try some hanging knee ups, either on an apparatus

or hanging from a bar. Also v-sits and decline crunches would be

something different.

I've got this huge Joe Weider Ultimate bodybuilding book and it has

every exercise known in the free world for every bodypart so I just

refer to that when I'm bored with what I'm doing. It might benefit

to purchase some sort of book like this to keep plateaus and

boredome from setting in. Hope this helped. Sorry it was so long.

Stasia

> I have a question somewhat similar to this thread. Last year when

I

> did BFL, I did great, but then after those 3 months, I was lost. I

> had no direction! I just finished the 12 weeks, and am looking to

> change. My DH really wants me to get off of BFL and do heavier

> weights, with lower reps. I tried to do this before, but can't

seem

> to get out of the BFL mode.

>

> I lifted weights for years before BFL, being in the weight room

for

> almost 2 hours a day, and never got the results I did with BFL. So

> where do I go from here? I have all this knowledge about

> weightlifting but am unfortunately unable to apply it! Do I

continue

> to follow the BFL training, and just increase my weights and

change

> the exercises, or do I go back to the 3 exercises per muscle group

I

> used to do? I just need a little direction here.

>

> I have gotten over the " 12-week " mentality that I had last year,

and

> am able to do this for life now, but I don't want to become

stagnant

> and plateau. And also, where can I add a cardio class or

something?

> I love to do Tae Bo and yoga but don't know what days to add on.

Any

> feedback would be greatly appreciated.

>

> Here is my workout schedule now:

>

> Mon: Upper body:

> Chest: dumbbell presses, 1 set of push ups

> Back: cable rows, pulldowns

> Shoulders: upright rows, front raises

> Triceps: rope pulldowns, overheads

> biceps: straight bar curls, concentration

>

> Tues: cardio, run, ab bootcamp

>

> Wed: Legs:

> Quads: Leg presses, extensions

> Hams: lying leg curls, lunges

> Calves: standing raises, one-legged raises on a step

> Abs: weighted machine, bicycles or thigh raises

>

> Thurs, Cardio again

>

> Friday: Upper again (vice versa on leg weeks)

>

> Saturday: Cardio, run or bike

>

> Thanks in advance, hope everyone is doing great!

>

>

>

>

>

> > I still eat the BFL way but not the workout. I don't maintain a

> > calorie deficit unless I'm trying to lean out for summer

> > (currently).Wintertime is mostly a maintenance and/or muscle

gain

> > menu which includes an extra 100 or so calories a day. My

current

> > workout schedule is as follows:

> >

> > Monday: abs and shoulders

> > Tuesday: Legs

> > Wednesday: abs, biceps, triceps

> > Thursday: chest and back

> > Friday: abs and shoulders

> >

> > cardio every other day. Weekends off. No free day, only a free

> meal

> > or two per week. I change the exercises fairly often per

> bodypart.

> > Cardio is usually 30 minutes on a stairstepper or about a 3.5

mile

> > run outdoors.

> >

> > Stasia

[Guest guest]

There are many lifting routines on the web, you might want to look at

Skwigg's page, Tom Venuto's BFFM page, Women's Weight Training, etc.

http://www.skwigg.com

http://www.fitren.com/res3ask.cfm?compid=18 & qaid=127

http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html

Also, if you want to do heavier weights with lower reps, you might

want to try some version of Super Slow. I did SS a few years ago and

in three months gained several pounds of muscle and lost loads of

fat, AND, I did not really diet at all. I didn't keep very good

records, and I wish I had because I made excellent gains.

The version of SuperSlow I did was:

-- whole body 3x's week [i did MWF]

-- I did 6/7 exercises for legs and 2 each for UB [the original plan,

which I read about in Shape magazine, called for fewer exercises -- 4

I think for legs and one each UB -- but since I'm anal I added more.]

-- for each exercise, do one set of 4-6 reps with the heaviest weight

that will take your muscles to failure. Take 10 seconds to raise the

weight and 5 seconds to lower. Hold one second at the top and bottom

of each rep. Increase the weight when you can do 6 reps.

-- Before lifting I would do 20 minutes HIIT on a stairmaster [20

cycles of 30 seconds " jogging, " 30 seconds " running " ], but now I

think I would separate cardio from weights and do them on separate

days.

-- I never did squats or dead lifts super slow -- I think it would be

bad for your back -- so if I wanted to incorporate these exercises,

I'd do 3 sets, using heaviest weights and 8-12 reps. So mostly legs

consisted of 6 SS exercises and either squats or deadlifts, not both.

Just my preference to do it that way -- one or the other, not both --

because otherwise I felt I was missing the one of the benefits of SS,

which is: it's FAST.

At first it was psychologically difficult for me to be ok with one

set per exercise, but if you do it right, it works. And, it's

grueling, but I prefer short heavy sets to long moderate ones, so for

me, it's optimal. I've had to miss a few BFL weight days and so on

those occasions, I've done cardio as planned and then a session of SS

for either UB or LB, whichever I missed. In fact, I just missed LB

on Monday, did cardio and SS LB yesterday and am sore today.

When I finish BFL C1, I plan on doing a 12-week cycle of SS while

sticking to the BFL eating plan. If you're interested I'll let you

know my gains, if any, afterwards.

> I have a question somewhat similar to this thread. Last year when I

> did BFL, I did great, but then after those 3 months, I was lost. I

> had no direction! I just finished the 12 weeks, and am looking to

> change. My DH really wants me to get off of BFL and do heavier

> weights, with lower reps. I tried to do this before, but can't seem

> to get out of the BFL mode.

>

> I lifted weights for years before BFL, being in the weight room for

> almost 2 hours a day, and never got the results I did with BFL. So

> where do I go from here? I have all this knowledge about

> weightlifting but am unfortunately unable to apply it! Do I

continue

> to follow the BFL training, and just increase my weights and change

> the exercises, or do I go back to the 3 exercises per muscle group

I

> used to do? I just need a little direction here.

>

> I have gotten over the " 12-week " mentality that I had last year,

and

> am able to do this for life now, but I don't want to become

stagnant

> and plateau. And also, where can I add a cardio class or something?

> I love to do Tae Bo and yoga but don't know what days to add on.

Any

> feedback would be greatly appreciated.

>

> Here is my workout schedule now:

>

> Mon: Upper body:

> Chest: dumbbell presses, 1 set of push ups

> Back: cable rows, pulldowns

> Shoulders: upright rows, front raises

> Triceps: rope pulldowns, overheads

> biceps: straight bar curls, concentration

>

> Tues: cardio, run, ab bootcamp

>

> Wed: Legs:

> Quads: Leg presses, extensions

> Hams: lying leg curls, lunges

> Calves: standing raises, one-legged raises on a step

> Abs: weighted machine, bicycles or thigh raises

>

> Thurs, Cardio again

>

> Friday: Upper again (vice versa on leg weeks)

>

> Saturday: Cardio, run or bike

>

> Thanks in advance, hope everyone is doing great!

>

>

>

>

>

> > I still eat the BFL way but not the workout. I don't maintain a

> > calorie deficit unless I'm trying to lean out for summer

> > (currently).Wintertime is mostly a maintenance and/or muscle gain

> > menu which includes an extra 100 or so calories a day. My current

> > workout schedule is as follows:

> >

> > Monday: abs and shoulders

> > Tuesday: Legs

> > Wednesday: abs, biceps, triceps

> > Thursday: chest and back

> > Friday: abs and shoulders

> >

> > cardio every other day. Weekends off. No free day, only a free

> meal

> > or two per week. I change the exercises fairly often per

> bodypart.

> > Cardio is usually 30 minutes on a stairstepper or about a 3.5

mile

> > run outdoors.

> >

> > Stasia

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/21/2004 11:54:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

jana5522@... writes:

> Do I continue

> to follow the BFL training, and just increase my weights and change

> the exercises, or do I go back to the 3 exercises per muscle group I

> used to do? I just need a little direction here.

>

If the BFL training is working for you, keep doing it. Just change the

exercises you do every 4 weeks. If you get to a point that you plateau, then

worry

about making some changes. I have followed BFL for 16 months with great

success. Good luck!