Expert: David Dickeson, A.S. - 4/15/2009

Question
QUESTION: David,
I am exercising and eating healthier and I am FINALLY losing some fat. I tried low glycemic/carb-nothing.Low calories-same. After I cut out red meat and fats (margarine,salad dressing) the fat finally started to come off!(Comments on that appreciated) with an improvement in my appearance; HOWEVER the needle on the scale has hardly moved.
According to most charts, I should weigh 160 pounds. (I am male,5'8").
Since I now weigh 230, I would have to lose almost 100 pounds?! I would look emaciated if I lost that much!
I have always been 'heavy' but I am naturally quite muscular, having played football and lifted weights-not to get big muscles but for exercise.
I would like to find a weight to 'shoot' for. I can pinch an inch on my waist but barely.
I have talked to other guys my height that also look OK but according to the charts are obese. Whats up with that?
Also,while googling all this I found 'visceral fat'. Is it possible most of my fat is around my liver/internal organs and not under my skin? This might explain the belly that sticks out, but there is very little fat on it.
Thanks!

ANSWER: Dear Bud

First, throw out the weight chart. My official doctor weight chart, which was written back in 1900!, says I should weigh 190 pounds. I did, at age 18, and I was incredibly skinny. Now after 24 years of weightlifting, I weigh 270 lbs. Muscles weigh more than fat. I look big, but not huge. People guess my weight to be 210.

Back in 1900, people did not lift weights. Health was based on how thin you were.

So forget the chart. Go buy a bodyfat scale. The percentage of bodyfat you have is the most important thing to monitor.

Visceral fat forms when people starve themselves. Your body uses fat for days when you are not eating. Our ancestors had such days, we do not. But our bodies have not changed. People who are super skinny and have no muscles form visceral fat.

The weight to "shoot for" is the body shape and size you are comfortable with. That could be now, or thinner, or bigger. Once you reach your comfortable shape and size, keep lifting weights the same weight all the time. As you get older, your body will be the same. Minor adjustments in plate weights may be necessary.

I achieved the body size I wanted about 5-8 years ago. I have not increased or decreased the weights I lift. And as I get older, the weight, mass and strength stay the same.

To keep tight, lift and HOLD heavy. Deadlifts are good. Hold for 1 minute. Tightens every thing up. Do this once a week.

I am doing more stretching now, than before. And more aerobics. The metabolism slows down as you get older, so you HAVE to daily stretching and aerobics to KEEP what you have gained. I started around age 50.

Blame gravity for bellies sticking out. Gravity keeps pulling everything down. The stomach has the longest muscles. Support is all the way around the back at the spine! By lifting and HOLDING in a deadlift, your muscles pull everything back up again.

If you really want to get results out of your lifting; get a power rack. Best investment you will ever spend money on. I have been using mine for 15 years now.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks David,awesome advice.
I am a professional driver so I have designed my workout to reflect this.
I stretch a lot using a swiss ball and I do deadlifts but I do them the traditional way-bending over with straight legs and lifting the bar to my waist for ten reps.
Your holding method intrigues me, could you  describe the method again?

Answer
Stretch, but without the swiss ball and deadlifts.

Stretching WITH the swiss ball turns your exercise into a light-weight exercise. Stretch first, without the ball, then when you are finished, exercise with the ball.

Bending over with straight legs will tighten your legs and butt, and your back a bit, too. Include deadlifts where you squat down, holding the bar, and go slowly up. If you feel you can do it, 10 reps is fine.

The NEXT DAY, if you are in pain. Give a few days of rest, and then resume the deadlift. But cut back on the reps.

With all exercises - FEEL as you lift. If I am doing a barbell curl, and after 2-3 reps, I feel ok, I stop the exercise. My body has reached it's peak in movement, so further reps would do nothing for me. And this also saves time.

Like learning to ride a bicycle. After several attempts, you are flying along with no problems at all. Think of lifting weights as riding the bike again for the first time. You begin exercising, everything is tight and stiff, you stumble a bit, feel pain and tightness a bit, work your way through the discomfort by lifting various angles and approaches, the pain and stiffness goes away. You are "flying again," sort-of-speak, on your "bicycle." You can either stop lifting, as you are done, or you can make it an aerobic exercise by continuing to lift and lift. As long as it is LIGHT weights.

Now to lift-and-hold. I call it REYOMETRICS.

Pick up something heavy. A rock, a weight, pails of water. Anything that is heavy. Your body does not know olympic plates from a tree log! Weight, is weight. Keeping your arms slightly bent, your knees slightly bent, and slightly bent-over, you force your muscles to hold the weight you are lifting. Keep everything straight; and your bones are holding the weight. That is how cheerleaders pick up and hold other cheerleaders with one arm. They 'lock' their bone joints to hold up the weight. Ice skaters do this too. Bend a skater's arm slightly, and see how long they hold someone up in the air. Not long at all!!

Now when you lift-and-hold, the 'major muscles' in your body instantly "fire-up" and tighten up to hold the weight. After about 30 seconds, your major muscles get exhausted. So your 'minor muscles' join in to help hold the weight. They are not as strong as your major muscles, so they get exhausted after about 15 minutes. You are now holding the weight for 45 seconds. With enough weight, your entire body can reach 100% muscle exhaustion! Now your muscles are shutting off and on to grasp moments of rest. Your body starts to shake like you are being electrocuted. 60 seconds you lay the weight down and walk away wiped-out. Literally!!

Why lift and hold heavy? Between our joints is a very thin layer of tissue that keeps the joints smooth and lubricated. Lift heavy and you push the joints together, squashing the layer of tissue. It quickly recovers after you stop lifting. So there is no problem with the lift.

Lift HEAVY and do reps; you are now GRINDING the joints together. The lubrication is destroyed, and the bones start to actually grind together. You end up with rough bone joints that cause excessive pain and swelling as you get older and older.

But back to lifting and holding. You lift, hold, and set the weight down. Your muscles now go into recovery mode. Recovery is when muscles split to make thicker muscle mass. You get bigger, stronger. But recovery from a full body exhaustion takes almost an entire week to fully recover! Lift heavy and then lift heavy again 2-3 days later, sure you feel fine. But as time goes by, you get more and more tired, and worse; your muscles get smaller and weaker. Not bigger.

I get questions all the time from people who lift heavy daily but never seem to get any mass or strength. They never rest their bodies so they never recover and rebuild.

Personally I like a large and massive build. I went from medium shirts and 190 lbs. in high school to my present 270 pounds and XXL shirts. I am almost 57. Instead of loosing weight, strength, and even height, because of my lifting, I have stayed the same for the last 5 years. Everyone around me is getting older, thinner, and weaker. I use to be terrified of turning 40, now I look forward to 60, 70 and older with excitement. It still amazes me that I can get up under the power rack and lift 415 pounds with my shoulders and then HOLD it for 60 seconds. Sure it is HEAVY. But I ask people all the time to lift the bar and they cannot move it AT ALL! And these are guys that are a lot younger than me, look bigger than me, but have no muscle mass. Their "mass" is mostly being overweight.

How to tell; big, thick fingers, wide wrists (no hourglass shape between the hand and the forearm), wide necks, puffy faces. They may be big as Godzilla, but it is mostly fat.

Like bodyguards for singers and actors. Guys that are just fat!

Hope this helps. Have a great day.