Calling Northcott: Body to Die for in 3 Months

[Morbidity]

Okay Mr Northcott, you called it. Let's hear the ideal female workout you've strategised for your wife.

Here we are, I've got 3 months to my wedding almost exactly. I'm happy with my current body, but kind of bored with my current exercise regime. I'm not that fussed about the wedding date really, so don't particularly feel constrained by that. The 3 months is a good timeframe though b/c it's about my workout attention span and if I don't see some progress along what I'm trying to accomplish in 3 months I tend to stop and give something else a go.

I get to the gym 2-3 times a week and tend to do upper body weights one of those times. I'm 5"3 and weigh about 50kg. I'm losing a bit of weight through stress and definitely 100% am not aiming to lose weight as going down a dress size is expensive - I like my current clothes.

Sits down and waits for wisdom to be dispensed ....

[PWD]

Photos! What are we working with as a starting point? :D

[Morbidity]

Okay here's a photo ... it's a bit old though. As I said I'm looking to get a bit more definition in the arms I think - they look a bit pudgy to me. :D

[Northcott]

Bwah-ha-ha-ha! PWD = PWnD! :D

Just finished my workout, about to start my wife's. Be back to post something coherent then. In the meantime, how clear an idea can you give me of your nutritional intake? How many feedings a day, what kind of protein/fat/carb breakdown, etc. How are you for eating fruit and veggies? Can you give me more detail on your current training routine?

The more detail the better. :) It gives me an idea what the starting point is.

[Morbidity]

Okay …

Exercise:
3 x week 45min cardio: This isn’t set it depends on what I feel like doing – exercise bike, running, cross-trainer, walking up hill on treadmill. I’ll generally mix it up amongst these.
After cardio I tend to do about 50 crunches, after 50 I get bored.

Weights:
I do 3 sets (1 set of 15, 1 set of 12 and 1 set of 10) of each weight increasing the weight each time. I don’t have anyone to spot for me, so don’t tend to go too overboard with what I’m lifting as I get worried about dropping the weights on myself if my arms get all shaky. It tends to take me about an hour.
Flat Bench Press (Dumbells going from 5kg to 7kg)
Incline Bench Press (Same Weights)
Overhead Press (Same Weights, though if I’m shaky I’ll do 4kg-6kg here)
Flat Bench Flys (Dumbells going from 4kg to 6kg)
Upright Row (Dumbells going from 5kg-7kg)
Normal Row (15, 20, 25)
Upright Lift (think its called that) (15,15,15 … find this one really hard)
Bicep Curl (Dumbells going from 5kg-7kg … though I usually can’t get through the 7kg set)
Lat Pulldown (15,20,25)
Assisted Dips (think its called that) (35,30,25)
Bench Dips (bodyweight)
Triceps Pushdowns (10,15,20)

Food (not terribly focussed on this):
I eat 3 times a day. I have done the 5 x in the past, but find that it's an awful lot of food to try and eat and also difficult to try and fit it in around my job.
Hmmm protein/fat/carb breakdown no real idea. I'd say not much fat especially during the week (as all the meat is lean) and probably more carbs than protein. On weekends or particularly bad weekdays I add alcohol and chocolate into the mix.

Breakfast: Porridge/Yoghurt/Fruit
Lunch: Chicken wrap or Chicken and rice or similar
Dinner: Stir-fry (chicken/tofu/veggies) or pasta or meat and veg

[Northcott]

Alrighty. Off the top of my head, if you're looking for more 'buff' for the wedding, I'd advise the following:

1) Eat more. Yeah, you knew I was going to say this! Make sure that any carbs at dinner and after come from vegetables and perhaps a little fruit. Eat more fat. Flax seed oil, fish oils, extra virgin olive oil, all-natureal peanut butter... Omega 3's and monostaturated fats will do wonders for building lean mass. Drizzle a little extra-virgin olive oil over your veggies and sprinkle some seasoning on them. Put a little flax seed oil in a protein shake. It's easy.

Make sure you get some kind of slow-digesting protein in your gut before bed. I prefer cottage cheese for this, personally.

Aim for about 2 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight. The difference it'll make will be night and day. Trouble eating at work? Pre-prepared foods are a gift.

As for it being too much -- yeah, it can be a bear. Reduce individual meal sizes. At the very least, get in a fourth feeding before bed. It'll help reduce muscle breakdown during the night, and aid in anabolic responses.

If I start to get unclear, call me on it. It's late, I'm sleepy, and I fear my typing's going to Hell. :)


2) Lift heavy, and reduce your workload. That's right, lift less, but when you lift, make sure it's heavier weights. Don't neglect the legs, either. You'll be surprised how much your arms will develop in strength when you're training deadlift, squats, etc. Work a squat variant and the Romanian Deadlift into your workouts -- find videos of them on the net for clearer instruction on technique. I'll search later, but pressed for time now.

Rather than do three sets of descending reps, do a five minute warm-up at the beginning of your workout, then go in, do 1-2 warm-up sets for a given exercise, and hit that exercise hard for 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps. If you can lift a weight more than 8 times, increase the weight so that you're down around 5ish.

Lift hard. Put complete focus and effort into it. The muscles respond to focus. Stick with a core of three simple exercises: a pulling exercise, a pushing exercise, and a squat or deadlift variant. This will work your entire body, spiking your metabolism, and making it a bit easier to build muscle.

So for example: Row, Bench, Romanian Deadlift. Each one at 3-5 sets hammered hard for 5-8 reps. If you do that right, it should reduce you to a sweating, trembling mess. Next workout, choose three different ones: Chin ups, overhead press, squats.

If you want added volume, just throw in another compound movement or two. Want to focus on your arms? Pressing movements will do more for triceps than anything else. Great biceps come easily with high chin-up numbers. Learn to do chin-ups, and you'll develop solid pipes. Plus a nice upper back always looks good in a dress. :) Plus deadlifts and squats make for a firm, round rear and curvy, strong thighs. And release the anabolic hormones that make muscle growth more efficient.

3) Less cardio. You have trouble putting on weight, why would you want to increase the work volume you do? Chop the Cardio down and put it at the end of your weight sessions, not before. Tackle the heavy lifting while still fresh. If you do high intensity intervals with cardio, you can chop the time spent on cardio right down, and your resting metabolism remains jacked for much, much longer. I'd say get rid of it entirely, save for 15 minutes light cooldown, but I don't think that would be received too well.


Summary:
Alter your eating habits, lift hard, and by the time your wedding rolls around you'll have a few extra pounds of lean weight added onto your frame... which, on so light a frame, should stand out quite nicely.


Instead of crunches, try this: Lay on your back with your hands at your side, palms down by your hips. Legs bent, knees raised, feet flat on the floor.

Now I want you to take a biiiiig deep breath, inflate chest and gut as much as you can, then breathe it all out. All of it. Just as you think you're reaching the very end of breath in your lungs, push it out and hold it. Then suck your bellybutton back toward your spine. Yeah, that's when you focus on your navel and try to pull it toward your spine... and then up your spine toward your heart. You should feel a keen ache underneath your abdominals. Keep it up, and release after 5-10 scpmds

Repeat this 3-5 times. This little torture is known as "the vacuum", and trains the transverse abdominus... the layers of muscle under abs. They're responsible for your posture, innerthoratic pressure when lifting, and creating that natural girdle of muscle that causes really fit abs to be drawn in very slightly.

We can get into some more ideas later. I fear I've become completely incoherent... dozed off three times while writing this, and heading for bed now. :)

[Northcott]

Oh, bloody Hell! Now I can't sleep. Re-reading the post above, it's pretty fucking helter-skelter. If you can make heads or tails of it, great! If not, I'll see if I can clarify the fuzzy bits tomorrow. Just ask any questions that rise.

[Morbidity]

Nope all kind of makes sense. I’ll give it a go and get back to you. If I’m going to increase the weight I’m lifting I might see if I can convince Atticus to come along and spot for me the first time as I’m nervous about dropping the weight. Either that or I guess I could abandon the free weights and use the machines instead.

Less cardio … but I like the cardio it gives me that nice endorphin rush. I’ll compromise with you and switch from 2 cardio and 1 weights and cardio, to 1 cardio and 2 weights and cardio … I’ve always done cardio after the weights as I completely agree you need to be fresh and focussed for the weights.

Chin-ups … we’ve got an assisted chin up machine so I can definitely do that. They always make me feel like a puny weakling, but I guess that’s the point.

Have done squats and deadlifts before, so can work them in without too much trouble. I haven’t done much lower body b/c I always felt it got a workout in the cardio so I should focus on the upper body for the weights.

Finally thanks for the advice. I'll try it for a week and then may seek feedback.

[The Winslow]

Okay here's a photo ... it's a bit old though. As I said I'm looking to get a bit more definition in the arms I think - they look a bit pudgy to me. :D

Hmm... If I have an advice to give based on that picture, it's to wait more than three months before marriage.

[Northcott]

Dear God. Now that I'm fully awake, I just realized what number you plugged in for your weight. I'm more than double your body mass. :eek:

Nope all kind of makes sense. I’ll give it a go and get back to you. If I’m going to increase the weight I’m lifting I might see if I can convince Atticus to come along and spot for me the first time as I’m nervous about dropping the weight. Either that or I guess I could abandon the free weights and use the machines instead.

Machines can be very useful for that kind of thing; bear in mind that the leverages are different, meaning that they're not necessarily an accurate indication of 'real world' weight, they reduce learning of body awareness/balance, and they may have a reduced effect on secondary muscular development and/or bone density.

This doesn't mean that machines are bad. They're generally very safe, and muscle certainly develops from using them with proper intensity. If you're worried about a bar dropping on your neck, use dumbbells instead.

A spotter is always a good thing to have, though. It also helps to have somebody who's encouraging and will help you stay on a program. If they're going to be a detriment in any way, shape, or form, however, you're better off without them. It's been my experience that the mental side of the game is hard enough without an added excuse for not working out (Oh, Bob can't make it today... maybe I'll go a bit lighter... or maybe I'll just skip today's lifts...).

Less cardio … but I like the cardio it gives me that nice endorphin rush. I’ll compromise with you and switch from 2 cardio and 1 weights and cardio, to 1 cardio and 2 weights and cardio … I’ve always done cardio after the weights as I completely agree you need to be fresh and focussed for the weights.

Yeah, you'll need at least two days a week to see development at this point. At the stage you're at, my guess would be (and there's still a lot of guesswork involved, as it's hard to guage these things at a distance) that you'd benefit from 3 total body workouts a week... but for now the shift from 1 to 2 should be enough of a change in volume, along with the alteration in the lifts done, to spark new growth.

Chin-ups … we’ve got an assisted chin up machine so I can definitely do that. They always make me feel like a puny weakling, but I guess that’s the point.

If you can, avoid that thing. Chin-ups are a bitch, but they're well worth developing. They hit the biceps, the lats, the shoulders, the forearms, the abs... they're a great exercise. You may end up having to use it, but if you can, avoid it.

Rather, find the chin-up bar in your gym. Get something to stand on, so that you can use a jump-assisted move to hang from the bar at the apex of the movement. You may not be strong enough to do a full chin-up, but I'd wager that you're strong enough to resist dropping... and that's the goal. We're stronger in the 'negative' portion of a movement than in the lift. So you'll build to chin-ups by doing 3-5 single negatives (a slow, resisted drop), followed by cable pulldowns with a weight that you can handle for 6-8 reps.

By the time your wedding rolls around, you should be able to manage a chin-up or two on your own. :) And you'll have firm arms for your wedding dress.

Have done squats and deadlifts before, so can work them in without too much trouble. I haven’t done much lower body b/c I always felt it got a workout in the cardio so I should focus on the upper body for the weights.

That's a fair assessment, and something that many women do. If you're looking to shape, however, it's hard to go wrong with lower body movements. Lots of women wonder how to get that firm, high, rounded look to their rear -- squats and deadlifts. They'll also put a sexy curve on the outside of the thigh. "Sumo" stance is particularly good for those developments, and I've found it to be easier on my knees. Make sure to take the weight down to the point where your thighs are parallel with the floor.

Finally thanks for the advice. I'll try it for a week and then may seek feedback.

It'll be at least 3-4 before you start to see noticeable changes. If you want, type up the exercises you're thinking of doing, and we'll get into the minutae of the program.


And don't mention it. :) I like to see people taking an active role in their own health and well-being.


Oh! On top of the vacuum (which gives a killer midsection), you might want to experiment with "planks". Basically like doing a full, real push-up (not lady push-ups), except you're not pushing... you're just holding your body straight as a board. You can do this braced on your elbows instead of at arm's length. Then do them on the sides, braced up on one arm. Then on your back, with shoulders on the floor, knees bent, and your heels supporting the weight of your body held up stiff as a board.

Image of the plank (http://exercise.about.com/library/graphics/plank1.jpg)

The advantage is that you can do these, and the vacuum, outside of the gym.

[PWD]

Hmm... If I have an advice to give based on that picture, it's to wait more than three months before marriage.

Wait on the marriage, get busy on the baby fat right away!

[Northcott]

Update, Morbidity? Any word on the exercises you've chosen?

[Morbidity]

Here's my update.

Did the gym on Wednesday and this morning (Friday). 5 min warm up on the treadmill, 30 mins weights, 15 mins cardio, then stretches and abs.

Wednesday I did: Leg press, Chin ups (assisted ... prior to reading your advice on the assisted) and Flat Bench Press.
... I took your advice and picked the medium weight of what I used to do and did a warm up set and then picked something about 50% heavier then the heaviest I used to do to do my 5 sets of 5-8. If I found I was making the 8 without wanting to die then I upp'd the weight. Seemed to work out ok.

This morning I did:
Squats, Incline BenchPress, Vertical Row ... the squats killed at the time, so I'm waiting to see how my legs feel tomorrow morning. I've ended up walking back and forth across the city today seeing clients - don't know if that improves or worsens my chances of having very sore legs tomorrow.

Nice thing about cardio after weights is that all the muscles are really warmed up, so you can really go hard. I'm thinking of getting a heart rate monitor, to make sure I don't go too hard.

I'm going tomorrow to the gym as well, but don't know if I should do weights as I won't have had a rest day, so tomorrow might be pure cardio and I'll see if I can sneak in another weights session on Sunday.

Thoughts?

[Northcott]

Before I go into the full spiel; your legs were tenderized, but how is your upper body?

By the way: light activity the following day helps alleviate muscle soreness. It keeps the muscle 'warmed up', along with keeping the blood flowing, and a steady stream of nutrients (presuming you're eating enough) rebuilding it.

[Morbidity]

Ahhhh my butt and thighs are ultra sore today and not b/c Atticus has been doing interesting things to me. Will go for a walk or something to try and alleviate it.

Upper body ... my arms are all shaky and sore at the time but don't seem to hurt the next day. Does this mean I'm not going hard enough? Or is it just that I'm more used to upper body weights or I stretch better or something similar.

Out of curiosity my lower back hurt a little when I woke up this morning, though it's fine now. Is that an indication that I was lifting something the wrong way?

[Northcott]

I asked for more information, but...
Ahhhh my butt and thighs are ultra sore today and not b/c Atticus has been doing interesting things to me. Will go for a walk or something to try and alleviate it.[/i]
...TOO MUCH INFORMATION! ;)

[QUOTE]Upper body ... my arms are all shaky and sore at the time but don't seem to hurt the next day. Does this mean I'm not going hard enough? Or is it just that I'm more used to upper body weights or I stretch better or something similar.

What it means is that you're probably reaching your muscle endurance threshold for your arms before you're hitting your power/strength threshhold. If you're turning out 5 sets of 8 reps... up the weight! Aim for a weight where you're using the same weight for all five sets, but by the fourth and fifth set you're barely making it. Perhaps not even quite succeeding.

The reason why your upper body isn't sore is very likely what you stated: it's used to the work. If you work within a certain set of parameters, then your body adapts to those parameters. You haven't done squats in a long time, so your body's going to see solid growth from those squats. It sounds like you need to push the envelop a little more to make some upper body progress.

Are you doing the same exercises for upper body that you've been doing for months, or have you switched them for something new?

Out of curiosity my lower back hurt a little when I woke up this morning, though it's fine now. Is that an indication that I was lifting something the wrong way?

I'd have to see you lift to be sure. That's the problem with long-distance advice. :( Remember to keep your back straight and drive mostly with the hips, butt, and thighs, and you should be fine. Keep your abs tensed hard on each rep, as they provide core support.

It could be that you did something wrong in the lift. It could also be that you haven't done squats in a long time, and so the supportive muscles are reacting in the same way your butt is -- except your back has to fire all the time to keep you upright, so it's far more noticeable/painful when it's sore. The other option is that the muscles tightened up when you slept, and are giving you aches as a result.

On that note: Look up "Romanian Deadlifts" on the web. Try those instead of leg press. You'll hate me for it, but it'll give you a strong lower back and hamstrings, and a firm, round butt. It works the posterior chain nicely, and you get some nice supportive work for other muscle groups in there. Either that, or go with deadlifts... no Romanians involved. On the classic deadlift, a greater range of motion gets the legs into the action as well. A sumo/very wid stance will recruit the thighs more than a narrow stance, which tends to hit the lower back hard.


For the rows, did you mean "horizontal row" instead of vertical row? If you meant vertical, try switching the second day to a horizontal cable row -- preferably with a wide grip, but if such a bar isn't available, don't sweat it. You're already working the vertical plane with chin-ups. Go horizontal for Day 2.

For the chin-ups: take my prior advice and see if you can safely (emphasize that word!) jump up to the bar, hang, and lower yourself as slowly as you can. This will aid you in developing resistance strength, which will translate over to the ability to lift yourself over time. Once you've done three "drops" like that, go and do two sets of seated pulldowns with a chin-up type of grip (palms facing you, about shoulder-width apart) on the bar. Fancy folks call that a supinated shoulder-width grip pull-down. I say that talking like that confuses the Hell out of people.


After that, your back should be sore as Hell for a few days.

[Pigs in Space]

Although I'm way late into the thread, if you're looking for a site with animated pix of different excercises I like this: http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

The dude is hairy though.

[Northcott]

Update, Morbs?

[Morbidity]

Only did one gym session last week as I had to go interstate on business and went bushwalking on the weekend. Not sure what it did for muscle development, but the hiking was fantastic and exhausting.

Went this morning and decided if I’m going to do squats or deadlifts I need to do them before I’ve done upper body weights as by the time I’d done upperbody my arms refused to just hold the weights to do lower, so I ended up doing the leg press again. I did the Romanian deadlifts last week, though I didn’t go all out as I wanted to ease into it to make sure I wasn’t going doing it wrong … as no lower back pain the next day, I’m assuming all was fine.

Investigated the chin up bars and decided that they looked a long way up, so I’m continuing with the assisted ones. I’ve significantly reduced the assist though (only 10kg this morning) so that by the 4th set I could only manage 4 reps and the 5th set only 3 reps, so I think I’ve got it about right. By the time I got through the flat bench press my arms were collapsing like little noodles.

General progress … I think I’m building muscle. A few days ago Atticus grabbed my upper arm to get my attention then gave me a shocked look and said “you’ve got some muscle there”.

[Northcott]

Excellent! [/Burns]

The hiking sounds like it was a blast. It kept you out and active, and you had fun. Really, the rest is just icing on the cake. Staying healthy and having fun is where it's at.

The Romanian deadlifts are unlikely to strain your lower back. You're doing the right thing by taking it slow and nailing the form. Weightlifting can fuck you up but good if you don't work on form -- it's not something that can ever be taken for granted. The big beasts who can lift 1,000+ lbs keep an eye on their form at all times -- if they don't, things break and rip, and that's no fun. Romanian deadlifts will, however, work your rear and your hamstrings in epic fashion once you get the form down and work with challenging weights.

Sounds like you're putting in solid effort. :) Remember when the day comes: an old bodybuilding trick is to make sure not to work out before the big event. The next day muscles look looser and less defined. 2nd day out from a heavy workout, they tend to look a little tighter and fuller. Just to make sure that you've got that extra edge on your big day. :)

[Morbidity]

Random Thoughts ....

1. Chin ups are the most ab-destroying things I've ever come across. Forget pilates, those swiss-ball crunches and all other exercises .... chin ups have caused my abs more pain than all of those put together.

2. Romanian deadlifts are truly evil things

3. Springtime is here, so I will soon be able to wear skimpy tops to show off my newly muscled arms ... well as long as there's no sunshine around. I will continue to hide from sunshine to preserve my "blinded by the white" complection.

[Northcott]

Heheheh!

1) Wait'll you try them in concert with front squats or overhead squats. And once you've adapted to chins, and can do them without assistance and with complete focus, then you can try "L" chins -- you hang from the bar with your legs pointed straight out, forming an L with your body, and do your sets. Your stomach will scream. Or do chins and leg raises concurrently. Brutal.

2) They are. Combine them with front squats, and you've got a workout that makes people weep. Do wide-stance "sumo" squats, combine with leg curls, lunges, and good mornings, and you're in a world of pain the next day.

3) Rock on. :)

[Morbidity]

So here’s the one month out update.

If you recall from my first post I said “I'm losing a bit of weight through stress and definitely 100% am not aiming to lose weight as going down a dress size is expensive - I like my current clothes.”

On July 21 my dressmaker took my measurements to make my wedding dress. After my fitting last night I am far from being her favourite customer. I’ve lost an inch around my hips, waist and bust. So she’s basically going to have to pull it apart and remake it. Apparently fitted bodices don’t fit if you lose an inch.

Generally speaking the extremely baggy clothes look is not terribly attractive, so I need to decide whether I should invest in new clothes or whether I’ll just put the weight back on again after the wedding and my life has a little less stress in it.

I’ve also put on 4kg, so Northcott your weight training must have had a fair old impact. So, one month to go and I definitely can’t afford to drop any more weight otherwise my dress won’t fit me.

I’m not sure if I should drop the gym entirely or continue my current regime. I’m basically doing 5 mins warmup, 40 mins of weights, 10 mins of cardio and 3 mins cooldown 3x week. The most logical thing is to drop the cardio, but we’re going hiking on our honeymoon, so I want to maintain my fitness. Suggestions?

[Northcott]

Holy crap. You've lost bodyfat and put on 8+ pounds of muscle in one month? That's damned impressive!

If you're worried about losing further weight, up your nutrient intake. To maintain bodyfat levels, carbs are an easy way to do this: chow down on some oatmeal in the mornings, have rice/pasta for lunch, etc. Abstain after the afternoon to avoid excess poundage, however. This is, of course, a very broad recomendation, and you have to keep an eye on your own progress to make sure you're not swinging the pendulum too far in one direction or the other.

Chances are you're heading toward a plateau in fat loss regardless, but mileage varies, of course. You may or may not plateau as quickly as some others do.

If you're looking to maintain aerobic fitness while still maintaining weight-training, do the same volume of work in 30 minutes instead of 40: shorten your rest period between sets. Carry a stopwatch and rest only 30 seconds to one minute between each set. Use the 10 minutes of cardio at the end as your cool-down.

Good work, Morbs! I'm impressed as can be, girl! :D Awesome work!

[Morbidity]

It's been 10 weeks not a month, but I've always been able to put on muscle fairly readily and remember it was off a low base. Atticus seems fairly keen on the new muscles ... or perhaps he's just scared that I might now beat him up.:D

Already doing the oatmeal/rice thing ... I think I might just need to eat more. Some of the weight loss might be because I cut out junk food to improve my skin. Who knew that chocolate was such a crucial part of my diet!

[Northcott]

10 weeks is still a Hell of an impressive feat.

Part of the problem is, of course, that you're succeeding quite noticeably in your goal. The measurements you've lost are the areas where bodyfat is most often stored on women, yet your weight is increasing. Most women would kill to have your "problem". ;)

Best of luck with the rest of the program!

[doc]

Way to go Morb !!! How does Atticus feel about the new "hardbody" you ? Thats what counts if all goes to pot get married in hip hugger jeans (white) to show off the new you.