My trainer and I disagree. Feedback appreciated

[franklo]

Hello Cursor and all,

This is my first post here. I found this bulletin board some weeks ago and believes it is an awesome source of info.

I have recently returned to the gym after having been absent for 6 months following a left calf muscular injury. This was partly because of the injury and partly because of various personal factors.

At any rate I am back to the gym and am basically following Dr. Scott Connelly's Body Rx program. I just finished my first month of this program.

I am 36, 5'11". I am now 210 pounds having lost 11 pounds over the last 4 weeks. I want to be 175 by early august (That would be 4.5 months). That was my weight prior to my injury. I have always been in great shape and can't wait to get back.

I am following both the nutrition and body building components of the program. As I said I have lost so far 11 pounds. I also dropped one size. 35 pounds and 2 more sizes too go. I was hoping I would have lost more by now but Dr. Connelly's states clearly that most weight loss will occur in the third 6 weeks period, i.e. starting two months from now.

I workout with a personal trainer at the gym and am having serious resistance from him regarding the exercise nature outlined in the book. For those not familiar with the book, the exercise routine is as follows:

Day 1: Chest and Biceps
Day 2: Back and Triceps
Day 3: Legs, Hamstrings, and calves
Day 4: Shoulders and abs

There are 4 cycles each 6 weeks. Each day has 5 exercises. Number of repetitions, rest interval, and number of sets change based on cycle.

I skipped cycle 1 and started at cycle 2.

Cycle 2: 4-5 working sets, 8-10 repetitions, 1.5 minute of rest between sets
Cycle 3: 5-6 working sets, 6-12 repetitions, 1 minute of rest

My trainer does not like this program. He wants to do circuit training and instead of doing 4 sets for 5 exercises he wants to do 20 sets for 20 exercises (or 10 exercises). He does not want to do 2 consecutive sets targeting same muscle groups and believe the rest interval can be used for abs. He believes abs need to be worked each day. He also wants to work every muscle group each of the 4 days instead of once per week.

In addition, I have decided to follow Dr. Connelly's advice and stay away from cardio. But my trainer again insists I do cardio each day after bodybuilding session.

I note that Cursor and Fudo recommend aerobics on days where no muscle building is happening and I believe I will start doing that. That will give me 3 days a week of 40 minutes cardio and 4 days a week of 1 hour resistance training.

Should I follow my trainer or shoud I stick with Connelly's?

Do abs need to be worked out each day?

I am getting married this summer and it is an absolute must I end up in excellent shape by end of July. All input would be highly appreciated.

Thanks

Frank

[johnnyz79]

Firstly, no abs do not need to be worked each day, abs are one of the fastest healing muscles so , yes you can work them more often then normal muscle groups. However 3 days a week should do the trick, and dont ignore your lowers and obliques. On to your trainer issue, i would listen to some things he or she have to say, but your setup of training sounds good, cardio 4-5 days a week though is a very good way to lose fat. I lost probably 20 pounds in a very short period a couple years back while doing cardio 4 days a week. So i suppose in the end my advice is if you dont feel your trainer is giving you the best support, find a new one, or simply put do the work yourself. Keeping track of all of your excersises for different muscle groups in a journal marking your progress. Good luck with your mission.

[Firehawk]

I dont like that trainer one bit lol.

Abs do not need to be trained every day, in fact with all ther est of the exercises, you train your abs pretty good as is, and some people dont even train abs directly.

Also, the 4 day weightlifting split is ok but i would change 2 things around on it:

Make it DAY 1: Chest / Tris and DAY 2: Back / Bis. Doing chest compliments the Triceps and doing Back Bis together compliment each other also. Legs ona day alone and shouldres on a day alone is good.

Also, cardio is best to be done on days off from weightlifting... like cursor has suggested. May I suggest HIIT cardio? Better for burning fat and keeping muscle than long sustained cardio...

Working each muscle group every day like your trainer wants will have u result in serious overtraining and you will probably either just not gain any muscle, or probably lose muscle, and i doubt you want to do that.

I think you should stick with your 4 day weight lifting split, and 3 days of cardio , but you wont lose that fat unless your diet is clean. You can work out and run all you want, but if you arent eating right, you wont see results.

[sin18]

i personally believe in a slight mixture between the 2, more biased toward your work out. I work out 1-3 main groups each day throughout the week, as u do. But i also do alittle maintain for all the others on their off day. Like on a chest and tri day i will still do 2 light-ish sets of everything else.

[Firehawk]

Why sin? Why do you do light sets on the days you arent focusing on those groups? Seems like a waste to me unless you are just trying to burn a few more calories...

[sin18]

that is part of it, my eating habits jump from good to bad all the time so partly to burn sum extra. but also cause time isn't to important, i have all i ever need. so i do it just to keep them warm, make sure they feel good and to make sure i use up all the creatine i take. no use on spending the money if my body doesn't use it all.

[bball4all]

dude, just do what works best for you....you don't need an exercise program specifically outlined for you.....just do what feels good, and train hard.....trust me, you'll see results

[stihl]

I think chest takes to much out of your tris to hit them on the same day effectively.I hit tris atleast 3 days after a chest workout and can hit them much much harder.Its been working and Im now seeing results.

[Bvlgari]

Hmm, I don't get HIIT very much. You must have to work very intensely in order to reap the benefits. The more intense an excercise is, the longer the afterburn, this I understand. But it is limited how long you can keep an excercise intense. Besides, the more intense and excercise, the more the body prefers carbohydrates to fat.

I don't see why doing steady cardio, at medium high intensity for a long time should not be better than that HIIT stuff. The advantage of HIIT, as far as I can see are, you save time.

Also, if you do the math, you have to do A LOT of cardio before it starts to burn away your muscles. Unless you bike more than 20 miles a day, or run more than 8 miles, the effects are small.

[cursor]

Connelly is 6'-5", 230-lbs, 5% body fat ... and 51 years old.
http://www.bodyrx.com/images/Curling.jpg

His recommendations for cycling nutrition and exercise make a great deal of sense. Fat reduction comes from balancing your physical exertion against your meal plan (even on a meal by meal basis ... which is something that Connelly doesn't address). Aerobics, while helpful in your fat loss efforts, is second to resistance training in developing an efficient ratio of lean body mass to body fat.

On page 176 of his book, Connelly says:

Why not aerobics? In all honesty, I detest doing aerobics. To me, running aimlessly on a treadmill or stomping on a stair stepper is mind numbing. Running in place or climbing a stairway to nowhere? Those are the epitomes of futility! But that's not why I don't recommend aerobics for others. The benefits of aerobics pale in comparison to those of weight training. In terms of health benefits, weight training does everything that aerobics can do, and much, much more.

For your reference, here are some previous posts that reference Dr. Scott Connelly and his BodyRx program:
1
2
3
4
5

[Firehawk]

Originally Posted by stihl

I think chest takes to much out of your tris to hit them on the same day effectively.I hit tris atleast 3 days after a chest workout and can hit them much much harder.Its been working and Im now seeing results.

I get great results doing them on the same day. I dont think chest takes too much out of the tri's. They are warmedup and and i can jump right into my heavy tricep exercises...

[sin18]

what do u guys do for tris? dips, tricept pullies, skull breakers?

[franklo]

Thank you all for the input.

Curson what is your personal opinion about this matter? Do you agree with my trainer or with Dr. Connelly?


Frank

[Jackal]

Originally Posted by franklo

Thank you all for the input.

Curson what is your personal opinion about this matter? Do you agree with my trainer or with Dr. Connelly?


Frank

Ditch the trainer and get another or dont use one at all. Your weightlifting set up is ok.

[cursor]

Originally Posted by franklo

My trainer does not like this program. He wants to do circuit training and instead of doing 4 sets for 5 exercises he wants to do 20 sets for 20 exercises (or 10 exercises). He does not want to do 2 consecutive sets targeting same muscle groups and believe the rest interval can be used for abs. He believes abs need to be worked each day. He also wants to work every muscle group each of the 4 days instead of once per week.

Say "bye-bye" to your trainer. It doesn't seem to me that he knows what he's talking about.