Expert: Phil Stevens - 11/2/2009

Question
Hello Phil I am a 45 year old man. I have been very active my whole life. I work out usually 6 days a week. 3 days I do strength training with dumbbells and machines along with core strengthening. The other 3 days I do cardio which is 1 hour on the treadmill at 4.5 to 4.7 mph (usually about 4.5 miles). When I do weight training my goal is overall fitness (not bulk). By this, I mean I want to keep tone and also be able to have the ability to do other things-like golf. I have never had a problem motivating myself to workout-I do enjoy it. Now my question- I have noticed in the last several months that I am beginning to need a little more rest than before. For example this past weekend on Saturday I woke up a little tired and thought maybe my body was trying to tell me to slow down a little so I did not work out over the weekend. I did resume today (Mon) and had a very good workout(strengthening). So I am curious about a few things. First, how many days should I work out? Second, how long should I workout to get the maximum results(is 1 hour on the treadmill too much)? am I going too fast?(4.5mph)Third am I doing too much strengthening (3 days a week at pretty good intensity)? Do you have any recommendations for a training routine? As I said earlier I am 45 yrs old. I am 6'5" tall weighing 215 pounds. I am in excellent shape according to my doctor(Thank God). I take glutamine as a supplement and I try to eat right(fruits and veggies). Sorry if this a long -winded question but I wanted to be specific.Also I want to know how best to get the most out of my workouts even if I were to cut back on how much I do or how often I do it.  Any recommendations you can give would be appreciated(even on nutrition). Thanks Ken


Answer
Ken-

You did the right thing. When things get hard you feel beat up or performance drops (for someone who trains regularly ) we should do LESS not more like most people will do. It means you are not recovered.

Your diet,I would try and base your foods first on protein and fats, then add in plenty of green veggies and fruit. Stay away from the processed grains and sugars for the most part except the occasional treat. Eat beef, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, green veggies, nuts, seeds, oils, butter, and fruits as the base of your diet. Foods that are filling and wholesome.

You as well as everyone should base your training on heavy resistance training, heavy of course being a relative term to the individual. Based in BIG compound moves with free weights not machines in order to build muscle and burn some body fat.

Base your training on squats, Deadlift, bench press, over head press, chins and rows, and power cleans these are the moves that use the most muscle at once. Train like an athlete, seek performance not pain. Aim not to go to failure. failure happens dont seek it. Aim to kick the weights butt not them kicking yours, Aim to make progress, to make something that was hard easy.Soreness is NOT an indicator of a good workout only making progress is. Less can be more.  Learn proper form. These moves will give you the most bang for your buck.

Muscle TONE is built with load. Is takes muscle to have tone. Load wont make you big and blocky or to have the inability to be mobile. Look at olympic lifters in the lighter weight classes. They lift almost primarily with HEAVY loads 1-5 reps and they are very mobile, explosive, and lean. the only thing that will make you BIG is if you eat for it you wont wake up magically huge.

Keeping lean mass and strength should be your number one priority as you age and Load is required to do so.

I would also consider trying soem interval training for 20 minutes or so once or twice a week instead of the distance running. If you want to be lean and have a good physique and the ability to perform this IS the way to go. Look at the physique of a sprinter, then look at the physique of a distance athlete like a marathon runner and tell me which you aspire to resemble?

I would do one press, one pull and one leg move a day really giving the moves the attention they deserve. Start with 2-3 days a week and then add on a session or two of cardio. Base your training on the resistance activity and DO a few big exercises to completion in the stead of a ton of small ones half witted exercises.

For more info you should join our free discussion forum, you will get lots of great advice and discussion there www.teamstaley.com start a training log. We can help with training, diet and then give advice on supplementation

Phil
www.staleytraining.com

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