Concept2 Forum

Here's what a typical training week looks like for me:

Mon: Weights
Tues: easy erg PM
Wed: hard erg if I feel recovered from Monday, otherwise easier
Thurs: hard erg AM, Weights PM
Fri: easy erg PM
Sat: hard erg if I feel recovered from Thursday, otherwise easier
Sun: hard erg (could be slower session but will most likely be a long session though)

As you can see I'm trying to stay anabolic for 24hrs+ after weights and trying to stay fresh when it counts. Directly after the weights for ~24hrs I eat like a bodybuilder (mindful of protein and getting >500 more calories than basal rate to support growth). At other times I eat less protein and focus on breaking even (calories/day) given how many calories I burn on the erg on that day. On days OTHER THAN the day after a weights session I stop eating around 8pm and don't eat again until 8-9am the next day to hopefully burn some fat. So...I'm trying to have enough fuel for the erg PLUS build muscle PLUS drop fat. Is this a good strategy and could I do anything better? Maybe work on a fortnightly basis where the first week's training is somehow different from the second, and then start over? One thing I've noticed is if I do a new weights exercise for a while new muscle is built much more speedily. Thoughts?

IMHO, you need to have one or two off days a week if your intent is to continue to build muscle and strength.

For example, Monday / Thursday weights. Tuesday, Friday, (and perhaps) Saturday on the erg...split between intervals and steady state.

When you change exercises, routines or come back from a long layoff you experience what is frequently referred to as the "novice effect".
This is a period during which nearly anything that you do results in gains. Eventually that period comes to an end and the search to find the right balance of intensity and volume required to keep gains coming is begun.

If you haven't already, you may want to look at the "Starting Strength" books: "Starting Strength", "The Barbell Prescription", (specifically written for Masters athletes), and "Practical Programming for Strength Training".

Building muscle and at the same time dropping fat is more or less a myth. It can be done, if you are a beginner and/or pretty fat and it you use peds. For a guy like you forget about it. You age is also not helping.

In my view you should first go for building strenght/muscle, aim to really gain weight. Partly that will be fat. If you reach a certain point, go for fat loss. In this fase you also will lose muscle. Aim to keep 2/3 of the muscle you have gained.

Below a certain point, nomatter what, you will lose muscle. Look at natural bodybuilders. Those have a very hard time getting on stage and keeping a good weight.

It's a tough one Paul. You need constant fuel to grow, even 72 hours after you're still repairing and growing, and they are mutually exclusive goals; calorie deficit to lose weight and calorie / protein surfeit to build muscle.

Having said that I think I have managed to grow and lose weight but I can't be sure that it's not just muscle growth that was previously hidden by slight excess weight. Your plan looks good but I do agree with Blues, you only grow as quickly as you can recover and I have at least two days off. I combine weights with erging due to time constraints.

Good Evening,
May I suggest looking into a Ketogenic or Carnivore type diet. I am sure Dr. Baker is lurking around here somewhere and he, along with others have seen significant improvement from these types of diets. Keto Counterculture on facebook is a good read as well.

David