This week, we had a really wide range of questions, from weight gainer shakes to increasing push up strength. Hopefully these answers will help you glean new insights and give you some new ideas about your fitness routine.
Here’s the short list of questions based on topic:
Question #1 | Are Arms Exercises Necessary?
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Question: Do you train arms at all with curls or french presses,or do you stay with multijoint moves that stress arms too? I mean do you have arm training program in “Builtlean”? –Markku Hsu |
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Answer: Hey Markku, for the last couple years, I haven’t done any arms exercises because I don’t have any desire to get my arms any bigger than they are now. I also believe your arm muscles can get plenty of work from basic compound movements like pull-ups, rows, and bench to name a few. In the BuiltLean Program, arm exercises are listed as optional, but they are included every week. I understand some guys may want to increase the size and strength of their arms and working arms directly certainly can help. In terms of overall body strength and getting lean, arms may be the least important muscles to train directly. If you are going to train arms, french presses and barbell biceps curls are certainly top on the list.
– Marc (Marc Perry, CSCS, CPT) |
Question #2 | Fat Loss & Metabolism
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Question: Hey Marc, how are you? Marc, quick question. Why are the amount of calories I burn directly related to my weight? Does this mean if I reduce my body fat percentage to 7% (my goal) from 22% (where I started) I will have to eat a lot less calories (than before i started) just to maintain? – Jose |
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Answer: Jose,
Your analysis is correct – as you lose weight your metabolism will decrease, but not by a huge amount, probably like 5-10%. Think about a large truck vs. a small car. More fuel is required to keep the larger truck running. When you have a lot of fat on your body, that extra body mass requires more energy. As you lose your body mass, you don’t need to intake as much energy to support a smaller frame. It sounds bad, but you may notice as your body gets smaller/leaner that your hunger may not be as strong as when you are larger. Also keep in mind over time, the amount of weight you are losing will also decrease. For more information on how to calculate calorie burn, check out this article: Calculate Calorie Burn. – Marc (Marc Perry, CSCS, CPT) |
Question #3 | Weight Gainer Shakes
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Question: Marc, what do you think of weight gainer shakes that are high in calories as a supplement to getting 2200-2400 calories per day? Obviously gainers are used to add more muscle but what if I were to use half the quantity, could that be used as a meal supplement when I am at work and need a 10am or 3pm meal? -Eric |
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Answer: @Eric – 2200-2400 calories isn’t that many calories. If you wanted to eat 4,000 calories in order to build muscle mass, then a weight gainer shake may be necessary.
Most weight gainer shakes on the market have a lot of junk in them. I would recommend making your own weight gainer shake with something simple like crushed ice, a couple pieces of fruit, and some fat like peanut or almond butter, and 1-2 scoops of whey protein. The amount of fat you put into it can change the calorie level quite substantially. Shakes can certainly be used as a snack, and in some cases a meal replacement, but ideally, whole foods are superior because they provide better nutrient delivery along with the thermic effect of food (eating foods burns more calories) which is helpful if you are trying to lose fat. If you absolutely can’t make a shake in the morning and carry it to work, or make it at work, then a ready-to-drink shake could work (like by MyoPlex), but again, do think packing a snack, or a meal with whole foods is the ideal option. – Marc (Marc Perry, CSCS, CPT) |
Question #4 | HIIT Training Intervals
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Question: I am doing HIIT more recently after completing my first 5k run, I am doing 2.30 mins at level 9 on treadmill and then 30 sec rest at walking speed of 6.5 – completing over a 30 min period…I plan to do this 3 times a week …. do you believe these are reasonable ratios for what I am trying to acheive? – LK |
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Answer: @LK – those ratios sound very tough to do for 30 minutes. If you can do that workout, then you are in VERY good shape. What you may consider is doing 9 on the treadmill, then hopping off for a minute, then going back on for another minute in a 1 to 1 ratio. Then do that for 5 to 10 rounds (10-20 minutes), whatever feels comfortable for you. As you get in better shape, you can increase the speed, or decrease the rest period, but I wouldn’t go above 10 rounds. As you are resting, you can do additional stretching, or grab some water. – Marc (Marc Perry, CSCS, CPT) |
Question #5 | Increasing Push Up Strength
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Question: Can you dramatically increase your push up amount by just doing pushups, or do you have to do harder variations like diamond and wide grip or elevated. someone said trying to do just higher amount of pushups will just build ur endurance? – john |
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Answer: That’s a great question. Certainly exercises like bench press etc. can help increase your overall strength, which can help you do more push ups. Also, if you decrease body fat without losing muscle, that can help too. With that said, I do believe you can increase both strength and endurance by simply doing more and more push ups. Doing a higher amount of push ups does start to work your endurance more than you strength, which is why harder variations can be helpful to get you to the next level. Hope that’s not too confusing and answers your question!
– Marc (Marc Perry, CSCS, CPT) |
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Are Arms Exercises Necessary? | Q&A Weekly Roundup,
As a followup to the first question about arm exercises, can you expand on this point: ” In terms of overall body strength and getting lean, arms may be the least important muscles to train directly”? If arms are the least important muscles to train directly then which are the most important muscle groups to train directly for getting lean and creating overall body strength?
@Jason – Absolutely. Here’s the list of most important muscle groups to train to get lean and/or build muscle:
1) Legs (by far)
2) Back
3) Chest
4) Shoulders
5) Arms
I didn’t include core/abs/lower back because often times you may not need to train them directly if you are doing a lot of full body movements, but it not a few solid core exercises can do the trick. This grouping is based on the muscle volume of the muscle groups and the impact they can have on your central nervous system and hormones. Also keep in mind I prefer thinking in movement patterns as opposed to muscle groups, but any way you slice it, doing an “arm” workout could be the least effective at helping increase metabolism to burn more fat.
Marc,
i have a question, can i do abs exercise 4 or 5 days a week end rest 2 or 3 days? can i exercise my upper abs one day and the next day my lower abs and so on? pls need some idvice.
thks.
@Raymond – The amount of rest you need is dependent on the intensity of the workout. For example, in the extreme case, if you do 30 sets of abs exercises in one workout, you might need to rest several days. If you just do a few sets, you can workout abs every day. I don’t think separating out upper and lower abs is a smart idea because the rectus abdominus (which is part of the abs complex) is one muscle. Yes, you can target different areas of that one muscle, but unless you are trying to be a bodybuilder and you have a lot of time on your hands, it’s splitting your abs into upper and lower is unnecessary and functionally does not make sense.
hey marc!
do u think doing push ups everyday will increase my endurance?
also how do I increase my pull up strength!I am a beginner and unable to do a single pull up!
Thejas – Regarding increasing pull up strength, I need to tackle that question in a video. It’s a long answer. The short answer is (1) lose fat without losing muscle so you become stronger relative to your body weight (2) practice pull ups with your arms flared wider to help engage your lats (3) foam roll your lats to help activate them and increase blood flow to the area. Push ups every day can help increase your muscular endurance for your chest muscles, but will not help your cardiovascular endurance.