Blog

0

I know that several of you are doing the Stronglifts 5x5 program, and thus thought I'd ask two questions here - one related to exercise and one related to (paleo) diet.

1) I lift in a fasted state pretty much first thing in the morning. I am trying to build muscle but also - and especially in the interim - lose fat, so I am eating pretty low-carb at the moment. What sorts of things would I eat post-workout? Do you keep the fat lower and carbohydrates higher or still stick to very low carbohydrates and eat lots of protein?

2) On your lifting days, are you also doing pull-ups, chin-ups, push-ups, and dips? Or do you do those on your "rest" days? Or do you not do them at all? :)

Thanks for the assistance. :)

flag
I love doing the strong lifts program, but when it comes to these sorts of technical questions, I am a mere dilletante. I also need to lose a lot of fat and I suspect the answer must be very different from the one given to those already lean and looking to muscle up. I hope you get some good answers. – Wozza Mar 12 2011 at 21:41
I would checkout Martin Berkhan at leangains.com and search for The Leangains Guide. You should do compound exercises like dead lifts, squats, chinups, bench, shoulder press, dips - with some isolations like abs and shoulder crunches. Chew all of your calories. Eat high protein everyday. Carbs on workout days (most should be post workout). Fat on non-workout days. – GPS Mar 19 2011 at 15:23
Here's a good article at the Daily Apple marksdailyapple.com/gain-weight-build-muscle – GPS Mar 19 2011 at 16:26
Thanks for the comments, GPS. I'm already doing most of those things. – a hut full of spears Mar 22 2011 at 14:55
What would be the down-side of going VLC on workout days? Is it that I wouldn't be able to resupply the muscles' glycogen stores without carbs? Would I stunt muscle growth by doing so? – a hut full of spears Mar 22 2011 at 15:07

4 Answers

6

I REST, REST is very undervalued. GREAT sleep and rest while in a hard tact weight training program is the best. And if you are over 35- even more rest. Rest builds muscle BACK that was torndown during the workout. Don't cheat yourself or your hard labor. Rest- read, listen to music, make love, do something to enrich your soul.

Stay away from protein shakes. Beef, eggs and homemade meat stocks are best. When I am strength training I use whole milk, Raw if I can find it- and I do. If you don't want the milk, farm fresh eggs are a must.

Get plenty of fats and protein in the diet, especial since the carbs are on the very low side (good). Losing body fat is NOT the same thing as losing weight. My pants size keep going down as I put on muscle and lost body fat but was gaining weight on the scale. Put the scale away and judge by your wordrobe.

link|flag
So to clarify - do you do bodyweight exercises like pull-ups and dips on your lifting days? Or do you just lift on your lifting days and that's all? Thanks a ton for the diet advice, too, btw. – a hut full of spears Mar 12 2011 at 21:44
@pjnoir - can you elaborate when you said "stay away from protein shakes"? – Eric Mar 13 2011 at 3:40
1 
 I am an adamant advocate of real food and find too many people substitute protein shakes and bars for real meals. If building bulk was my goal then yes drink 'em with raw milk but bulking is never the goal. I'd rather save the money and put it toward a better grass fed beef or local fresh fish or a gallon of raw milk if you are lucky to be able to buy it. And by all means support efferts to keep real food legal. – pjnoir Mar 13 2011 at 21:18
2

RIGHT ON pjnoir!!!

Hut, What are your goals? Pure strength like strongman contests? Eat lots of meat and re-read pj's post. Getting big like a body builder? Limit your carbs, add cardio and re-read pj's post. All around fitness? lean look? Start doing CrossFit and re-read pj's post. Your workouts should be aimed at your goals.

I'm a firefighter and want to be lean and have general all around fitness. I also want to be strong. Everything is a trade-off. I do 1-3-5 style strength work and CrossFit (met-con) workouts. I could be stronger if I eased up on the met-con, I could have more endurance if I dropped the strength work. I could improve both if I gave up surfing or paddleboarding.

Diet + exercise + rest= optimal performance.

good luck!

link|flag
Great post. Thank you. I think I've detailed my goals in another thread - mostly I would like to be both strong and lean...so somewhere in the middle on that continuum. I am interested in muscle definition and enough lean muscle mass to be strong but not interested in looking like a bodybuilder. I lift 3 days a week (Stronglifts 5x5), do Tabata sprints once a week, and calisthenics and walk a fair bit the other 3 days a week. I try and stay under 100g of starch per day, regardless of whether or not I'm lifting that day. – a hut full of spears Mar 12 2011 at 23:17
1

I started I started Stronglifts about 2 weeks after going paleo. I managed to drop 10 kg on scale in 3 months with noticeable muscle and strength gains. After that my strength kept going up but fat loss stopped or maybe reversed a bit.

PWM was always high protein (eggs or milk based) with fruit based carbs - banana, apples and oranges.

Stronglifts is great for strength gains, but I did not find time to do anything but short warm-up and proscribed lifts after first 2 months. If my only focus was strength that would be great, but for overall fitness I had to change my exercise routine. Stronglifts was great way to start as you see results from week to next week when you start. I might come back to it - as it is now I still use what I learned from it.

Now I do 5 minute warm-up on rowing machine, and intervals on rowing machine 8x30:30r. After that depending on mood 1 or 2 lifts (deadlift, squad, press, bench press, reverse row), pull-ups, core work and finsih with one-arm dumbbell snatch intervals.

link|flag
0

I also wonder about chins and dips on 5x5...

I've done a lot of HIT with chins and dips and am very strong in both (85 lbs weighted chins x 4 and 115 lbs weighted dips x 5 and i'm about 160 5'11) I feel like in those 2 areas I have fantastic results, but not so much in squats (145 x 20) or dedlifts (245 x 15) (not bad) but I want to be much stronger in both those areas. also- I'd like my military press to be stronger and my bench is kind of weak despite having developed a strong dip- I switched to dips a while back instead and my bench has gone down since... so I'd say it's not a viable replacement, at least not for me. But benching heavy never helped my dips, either, so...

I want to try either the 5x5 or the Starting Strength routine, I'm sure they're both great, but I don't want to neglect dips and chins... I'd like to keep pushing them as hard as the other main movements, as I think they are just as valuable.

I thought maybe I'd add chins to the deadlift day and dips to the bench day... but I really want to give the right routine a good shot and don't want to screw it up, because I also like conditioning and crossfit type training and will be putting that in check while I do this, and don't like to go too long without that, don't want to waste time, and like being super lean. the results I'm after are like what Martin Berkhan suggests- rating your lifts against your bodyweight- so actually would be happy to keep my body mass as low as possible and just increase strength as much as I can- like I have with chins.

so, like the original post- someone let us know if adding chins and dips (as another main lift and not just supplimental) to a stronglifts or starting strength routine is an ok thing to do without screwing up the program.

btw- I also do the raw milk, whole food thing- I love that shit- don't know where you learned it but I got it from anthony bova's spartan health regiment, I'd highly recommend his material to anyone- and he also suggests similar workouts to 5x5 and Starting Strength (but pushes dips instead of bench and chins instead of rows)... but not squats 3x a week... I can't wait to start.

link|flag

Your Answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.