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Q: Should I do my cardio before weights or after?

A: Great question and one that is frequently asked. Without getting to scientific, here’s the scoop. When you do cardio before weights you use up a lot of your body’s preferred energy source, stored carbohydrates also known as glycogen. The body will also use some fat for energy during cardio. If you use up all stored glycogen and then do weights, the body has no preferred energy to tap into. When you weight train the body can only use glycogen for fuel, it can not use fat. So if all glycogen stores are gone, the body will then make its own glycogen stores by breaking down muscle tissue. This is extremely bad! On the other hand, if we do weights first and use up most of our glycogen stores then do cardio after weights we have the ability to tap into more fat stores as we do cardio.

So in short, always, always, always do your weight training first and cardio second if fat loss is the ultimate goal.

Q: Which diet is better, Atkins or South Beach?

A: Ah, the dreaded “D” word. As far as diets go, whether you’re cutting out carbs, separating eating proteins from carbohydrates, eating a special cookie 5 times a day or doing the juice diet that all the celebs do, these diets all have one thing in common. They are temporary. If permanent fat loss is your goal, then a supportive nutrition plan is what you need to follow for the not just the next 12 weeks but the rest of your life. Your body’s preferred fuel source is carbohydrates and therefore you need them to perform daily metabolic functions such as keeping your heart beating, your lungs breathing as well as running after your kids or playing a game of pick-up basketball. Your body needs protein to help rebuild tissues from damage that may occur during activity, injury or stress. A decent protein level in your diet along with exercise can also help boost your immune system.

Low fat, non-fat marketing may be the worst thing to have happened to this country from a nutritional standpoint. The body needs fat for insulation of the organs but it also need dietary fat for proper nervous functioning. You should keep your dietary fat intake to about 20-30% of your overall calories and try to make sure that most of those fat calories are coming from healthy poly or mono-unsaturated fat sources. Eating a well balanced diet of good carbohydrates, lean proteins and healthy fats along with exercise is the true key to losing body fat and keeping it off forever.

Q: Now I am currently at 13% body fat, but I would like to drop down to around 8%. I try to eat healthy, lots of vegetables and lean meats along with my exercise but I don't have any specific plan as far as my eating habits. I just eat whenever I'm hungry(a lot of the time). I was wondering if you could help me with a nutrion plan to help me lower my body fat?
Thank You, Serg

A: Serg,

Thanks for the question. This is a tricky one to answer as I don't know your age, current level of activity or previous nutritional habits. Also, as I am not board certified in Nutrition, I could never give you an exact eating plan. Don't be discouraged though, I have worked with hundereds of clients getting great results for all without giving them a specific diet.

First, at 13% body fat, you're already very lean. To make it to the single digits takes a specific goal and planning around that goal. You'll need to eat 5-6 times a day with lean protein, good sources of carbohydrates (such as sweet potatoes, oatmeal and brown rice) and fruits and vegetables making up your servings at each meal. Once you have this constant, you can fool around with it as you continue to exercise. Nutrition is 70% of the battle and you should be 90% compliant with your nutrition to make progress. That means out of 42 meals in a weak, you can cheat or miss 4 meals. This will give you the ability to have your treats here and there but you'll sabotage your efforts if you have desert every night or skip meals on a regular basis.

For your exercise...You'll need to cycle your weight training as well as your cardio. This means that every 3-4 weeks you need to change things up, shock the body and it will respond by building a little more musle and burning more fat.

Keep a diary, of everything. Many people who need to lose 20 or more pounds can get away with not doing this, those who are already lean need to track their progress very closely. As long as your nutrition is good, you can make changes to you're exercise to make more progress. When you see progress halt from changing exercise, that's when you'll need to look closer at your nutrition.

There are many techniques for pulling a little more body fat from your body. The most common one that I use is to wean off carbohydrates later in the day. Make sure you still get to plenty of vegetables though. DO NOT do this too soon. Losing body fat when you are already lean is hard. If you cut too many calories you could waste lean muscle mass which helps you to burn body fat, this would be a very bad thing. Like I said, keep track of your progress. You can expect to lose 1-2 pounds of body fat per week. Just make sure it it body fat you are losing, not just weight.

To conclude, schedule your meals. Eating when you are hungry means that your blood sugar is already low and your body can cannibalize your own muscle for fuel. Change your training program at least every 4 weeks. Cycle periods of heavy weight (4-8 reps), moderate weight (8-12 reps) and light weight (12-15 reps) along with your cardio (sprints, interval training and long bouts up to 50 or 60 minutes).

I hope this was helpful, if your have any other questions please feel free to ask. You can also check out our website for more info at www.personal-trainer-wellesley.com
-Andy

Q: Hiya , I was just wodnering if you'd be able to help. My boyfriend is 6'4", and has a lean muscle build. He plays rugby (training 2x a week, match 1x week); however he's also a labourer and work' s long hours. Since he started he seems to have lost a lot of size, he's gone from a 36" waist to a 30" even thoguh he looks like a horse and to be honest if he ate any more protein his kidneys'd pack in. He's tried supplements such as creatine in the past (with success but bad effects with regards to high aggression); is there anything else you can suggest? He's aiming to gain around 3 stone.
Thanks, Paula

A: Hi Paula,
Thanks for the question. I jsut want to make sure that I'm on the right page as you. 3 stone is 42 pounds, right?

It's funny, out of 100 questions, only about 1 or 2 are about how to gain weight instead of losing it. I LOVE IT! Let's clear up the supplements issue first. Try to remember that supplements are just that, supplements. Whole foods from good sources of protien, complex carbohydrates and fruits and vegetables should make up most of your diet. As for the creatine, it is a performance enhancer, but if you don't have the calories to go along with it, it won't do much to put on weight. Creatine shouldn't cause aggression, but some supplements effect some people differently than others.

Losing 6 inches in his waist is a lot and it sounds to me that your boyfriend needs to eat more, mostly in the form of complex carbohydrates (oatmeal, potatoes, corn, whole grain breads). As long as he has small amounts of protein at every meal, there is no reason to increase it. With his rugby playing and work, he is expending a lot of calories.

He'll need to eat 6 times a day. If you'd like to figure out how many calories he should be eating...take his ideal body weight (start in 20 pound increments, or you'll add too many calories at once) and multiply is by 15-17. Eat this way for 3-4 weeks, then evaluate again. He should be abale to gain up to 2 pounds a week (possibly more in the beginning) without putting on too much fat, if any at all.

Now six whole food meals can be tough. This is where supplements can come in. I try to eat at least 3 whole food meals a day and will supplement with meal replacements (shakes) for the others. Make sure the meals are spaced out every 2 and half to 3 hours. For the ultimate in weight gain, your boyfriend can get a weight gainer supplement (mix of protein and carbohydates and fat) and mix it with 32-64 ounces of milk and sip it all day long along with his meals.

So to conclude, have your boyfreind get to more food during the day. His occupation and sporting activities cause his body to burn a lot of calories. If he isn't eating more than he's burning, he'll remain the same or lose weight. As long as the calories are coming from good foods (nothing with a shelf life longer that 2 weeks) he'll put on the weight and keep muscular an lean.

I hope this helped, you can also check other articles on training and nutrition at our website www.personal-trainer-wellesley.com
Andy

Q: Dear Andrew,
I did wieght traning for almost 4 months sometime back and then I had to discontinue because of work. After few months of discontinuing the weight traning I started getting fat. Now there is a lot of fat in the waist and breast region. Please suggest what to do as I feel very bad about particularly the enlarged breast region. Thanks a lot in advance. Hope to hear from you.
Rajiv New Delhi, India

A: Rajiv,
Thank you for your question.

This often comes as a concern to many people who start weight training or know that they will have to stop at some time. Many people are concerned that the muscle that they gain form weight training will turn to fat once they stop. This is physiologically impossible. The muscle may get softer, but it will not morph into fat cells.

When you started to weight train your body's metabolism picked up and you probably started to eat more to compensate for the extra energy your body demanded. Once you stopped weight training, if you continued to eat the same as before, you would be taking in an excess of calories. Beacause you were not exercising, your body didn't use the calories for energy or repair, instead it stored as energy for use later on...body fat.

So how do you get rid of the body fat you now have. My best prescription is to monitor your diet making sure that you eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as good grains and lean sources of protein. In addition, if you can get back to weight training this will help to reshape your body and increase your metabolism. Adding cardiovascular exercise will also help to strengthen your heart as well as put a turbo charger onto your fat burning machine supported by weight training and good nutrition.

Rajiv, as long as you start with a little bit of exercise and monitor your diet, you'll be able to see some changes in your body within a couple of weeks. Make sure you measure results by the way your clothes fit and what you see in the mirror, not by what a scale says.

I hope this helped. If you have more questions, please feel free to ask or you can check out our website at www.personal-trainer-wellesley.com for more info and articles on this subject.
Andy Maus

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