Last week I visited my brother and helped him with some demolition work. Pulling things down and crushing mortar is fun, picking up all the debris afterwards and drive it to the nearest refuse dump isn’t. Anyway, my planned re-fill day actually turned into 2.5 days of less strict eating. Unfortunately I got more carbs that I planned. Working outdoors while the hours fly by isn’t exactly the best setting for following a nutritional plan. Neither is spending quality time with your family. Nonetheless, it was good fun and I’m not preparing for a contest so it doesn’t bother me the least.
What do bother me is that I spent a lot of energy on non productive exercise this week. First we worked our ass off on Friday and Saturday at my brother’s house (which was productive since it is heavy and hard work). But on my way home that evening I missed a bus and instead of waiting an hour I walked home with a backpack of 40lbs, which took roughly an hour. And when I walk, I walk like a frikkin’ sport walking athlete, otherwise I would be bored to death. The day after, believe it or not, I was in the same situation again. This time it was only 30 min to the next bus, but stupid as I was I said “f**k this” and I walked home once again. And a few days later I got persuaded into a “small stroll” with a friend that turned into a really long walk through the larger part of Västerås (it took close to two hours).
So, what did all this cardio do? Well, it seems like I lost 0.8lbs of lean body mass during these last nine days and my fat loss actually slowed down. Well, that’s what happens when you do too much cardio on too few calories.

The results after 22 days and a total of six weeks (42 days), July 29:

Age: 32
Height: 5′8″ (172 cm)
Morning body weight: 166.8lbs (75.8kg), down another 2.6lbs (1.2kg) from last week and a total of 17.2lbs (7.8kg).
Body fat percentage: 7.96%, down from 8.9% last week and 14.8% at the start.
Fat weight: 13.3lbs (6.03kg), down another 1.8lbs (0.83kg) from last week and a total of 13.9lbs (6.3kg).
Lean body weight: 153.5lbs (69.77), down 0.8lbs (0.37kg) from last week.
Waist measurement: 33.54” (85.2cm), down another 0.36” (0.8cm) from last week and a total of 3.26” (8.2cm)

So, what will I do during the next week? Well, first of all I will not do any pointless cardio no matter what situation I may end up in, that’s for sure. If someone wants to stroll around in the city, I’ll tag along in a cab. Second, and this I already did this morning, was to do a tiny carb-load during and after my lower body workout. I added 120 grams of carbs in two servings during and immediately after the training session. Other than that, the upcoming week will continue as previously outlined. New pictures will be taken next Saturday.
Until then, have a great week!

I work with a lot of athletes, ranging from soccer players to track and field athletes, MMA fighters, bodybuilders and swimmers, just to mention a few. These athletes all have one thing in common; they all want to improve their performance, whether it is strength, power, stamina, speed, agility or any other athletic attribute you can think of.

So, if a basket ball player comes to me and wants to improve his vertical jump, what is the first thing I do? Do I design a workout routine built around exercises with a high degree of dynamic characteristics and similar movement patterns of the vertical jump (like squats), and send him on his way? No, that is the last step of many.
Actually, the first thing I look at is his body fat percentage and after that I do the classic static, passive and dynamic evaluations to discover imbalances and limiting factors (for example tight flexors and weak extensors).

The reason for checking his body fat is simply that fat is a nonfunctional tissue – that is, it doesn’t contribute to any of the athletic attributes mentioned above. Body fat is simply an excess baggage that your muscles must carry around, which in turn will hamper your performance in any event or situation. So, if our basket ball player has a body fat percentage above 8% I will provide him with a nutritional program. I prefer to have all athletes below 10% body fat (at least). About 5-6% is ideal. When your body fat decreases your strength to body weight ratio increases (aka relative strength), and so does your performance.

Once the diet is in order and eventual imbalances or other limiting factors have been corrected; then we move on to the exercise program. However, by losing some flab from the start, he will improve his performance and increase his vertical jump - and that even before he has begun any specific training.

And yes, big boy! This holds true for bodybuilders as well. Bulking up and looking like a pig during the off-season is not the way. Getting fat will impede your endurance and as a result making your workouts less productive, and it will make your pre-contest diet unnecessary long and hard and probably result in some muscle loss. But worst of all, it will wreck havoc upon your health in the long run.