I really don't have time to address all the weirdness in this post, since I have to train a little and then eat Thanksgiving dinner. The board at large shall educate you.
Hi Mark!
I have a question for you.
I got your book in February, and worked my way up in power lifting since then, just about 8 months. I made the biggest improvement in my dead lift. It was 130 kg or 140 in February, and I’ve pulled 200 a couple of times since then. I’m 51 years old, and my cholesterol is high, and has actually gotten worse. Also I gained 11 kilo in body weight since February, and it’s certainly not all muscle – not even half. I added on nearly three inches on my waist. So I’ve decided to take sort of a time out, and start cutting. I started a very-low-carb diet about 10 days ago, and focusing more on cardio and light weights. Thankfully I successfully knocked off 3 kilo so far, but I have at least another 17 to go.
My question is this:
Should I stay on the low-carb+cardio program ‘til I’m down to zero excess weight (which is where I want to be), or should I set a time limit, such as 12 weeks or so, and then return to a cycle of muscle building for at least a few months before I go back to cutting fat?
Keep in mind, for two reasons it’s important for me to cut the excess fat to zero; 1. Health – getting the LDL down to a healthy level. And 2. Financial – I hope to soon be coming out with a book, “Maimonides and Metabolism”, a book on diet, and to be able to market it successfully, I’ve got to demonstrate personally the success of the system.
So what’s your recommendations and why?
Thanks
Yonason Herschlag
CEO Kosher Lemehadrin Health and Fitness Center, Beitar Illit, Israel
I really don't have time to address all the weirdness in this post, since I have to train a little and then eat Thanksgiving dinner. The board at large shall educate you.
Perhaps keeping calories at a lower level, sufficient to gain muscle without gorging yourself like a 20 year old.
And if you've gotten stronger, why do you want to lose *all* the weight you gained?
Shouldnt you know the answer? Being an author on the subject and all?
Wait what? How can you demonstrate the success of your system/book in the first place if you have to ask here how to cut bodyfat and how to get your own health in check?
Anyway what does "high cholesterol" mean in specific? How does your LDL, HDL, Triglycerides and maybe particle count look like? And how did your prior diet look like?
I'd like to write a book about getting strong, but I don't know how to get strong, but for marketing purposes I need to be able to show my method (that I don't have yet) works for me. Rip, can you please tell me how to get strong?
Let's recap: you want to demonstrate the success of a "system" described by a 12th century polymath, and to do this, you're asking a barbell coach about cardio. Cardio that you started 10 days ago, and you've already lost 3kg. But you want to get your LDL cholesterol down, which is why you have to shed 17kg of non-cholesterol off of your person, which will help you sell a book.
...
I know what Rip's recommendation will be, because he's a barbell coach. He will recommend that you use a barbell.
I'm writing a book on how to achieve world peace. Can someone tell me how to achieve world peace, so that my book isn't a flop.
Okay guys, fair enough, I can respect that my question is weird for you.
As the vast majority of the population, I am not by trade or hobby a weightlifter. The majority of people do suffer from obesity, and that can be improved primarily with diet, and of course exercise (both cardio and resistance) will make dieting much more effective.
I realize that a 200 kg deadlift is not impressive for the people on this forum, but I'm sure you realize, that the percentage of men (in the general population - not in the gym) that can do that is quite small, and the percentage gets even smaller over 50 years old. For people my age that spent the last 20 years sitting at a desk and not working out, to go from 130 to 200 does demonstrate that I'm doing something right. Considering that I ruptured a disc in a car accident in 1985, and suffered numerous other and even worse injuries, I'm personally happy about my improvement in strength.
Concerning the book I'm writing, it addresses primarily the metabolic syndrome, focused on reducing hyperinsulinemia. Besides for the 9.3% of the adult population suffering from diabetes, ONE THIRD of adults have pre-diabetes. Believe it or not, some of Maimonides teachings concerning diet can dramatically improve hyperinsulinemia, and this has been TOTALLY OVERLOOKED by the health professionals.
I wasn't born knowledgeable. Some of what I know I've learned from books, and some of my knowledge I have obtained by consulting with world experts (like Mark or professors/doctors).
The question at hand is how to maximize reducing fat while maximize gaining strength.
I realize that weightlifters generally don't mind their fat. This is something more in line with body-building. But obesity is probably responsible (or at least a contributing factor) in the cause of most deaths. For me personally, if I lost 17 kilo of fat and only fat, I would still have about 10% body fat, which would be high for a body-building competition, but low for you guys.
The question for me is how to maintain my strength as much as possible in my effort to reach my goal.