Swimmers body and types of weight training

[Byron]

Hey,
So I am a swimmer although I have been out of the pool in the past few months. I want a body that people consider to be sexy without being big and bulky. I have been weight training for the past few months with impressive results, but I have a few questions. First, is it better to do full body workouts (think circuit training) three or four times a week with weights, or is it better to do split routines, focusing on several muscle groups a day. I want to be toned and ripped without being too big, but I need to gain some more muscle mass. My concerns with the full body are that I wont gain any weight or be toned enough cause I won't hit the muscles hard enough. My concerns with split are simply becoming too big. I want a sort of Abercrombie and Fitch model-like body. Don't judge, women find them incredibly attractive! Anyhow what do you guys think I should do?
-youngbyron

 

[AsianPersuasion]

Most people are surprised when I tell them the best fats I know of are in grass fed butter, range fed egg yolks, and even animal fat. There's no conclusive evidence that can connect saturated fat with elevated cholesterol levels, and even the link between cholesterol and heart disease is flawed. I also like Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Coconut Oil for my fat sources, but the egg yolks are probably the best of them all

 

[Byron]

Thanks Asianpersuasion! that clears up a lot. Thoughts on almonds, peanuts, etc for fats?

 

[Ross]

Training for a certain body type has always been the bane of men for figuring out. Goals such as being able to lift x amount on x lift are easy, but choosing particular exercises to look a certain way?

I suppose we differ in the way we want to look. You want to look clean, refined, polished. I want to look rugged and chiseled.

Though there has been much debate about the ways certain routines make you look, I'll show you a few pictures of men that follow different ways of training.

First off, we'll start with heavy, compound movements on a full body routine:

Reg Park followed this style of training. If you don't know who Reg Park is, he's the man who trained Arnold Schwarzenegger. He achieved many feats after only a few years of bodybuilding, and Arnold followed them to achieve a Mr. Olympia body in 5 years of weight training. He used a 5 reps, heavy compound technique in order to build solid muscle.

Then, there's the polished and refined man. The mid-weight, mid-rep split routine:

Jeff Seid, who is a young up-and-coming fitness model. He follows a split routine with reps in the 8 to 12 range with rest times cut off that includes a lot of isolation work, along with some compounds. It seems to focus more around pumping the muscles so they look ballooned, rather than the entire body appearing larger.


If I were you and wanted to achieve a physique similar to an abercrombie model, then I'd suggest following a standard split routine consisting of a few compounds and many isolation exercises.

As for diet, my advice will always be to consume whole foods (more meat, fruits, vegetables; less bread & pasta). As long as your foods are natural and your training is consistent, you should be able to achieve that physique in a reasonably fast manner.

 

[Blondie]

What up Bryon.

If you have less than a year of consistently training in the weight room It really doesn't matter what kind of program you do, you are going to show results no matter what. As long as you are following some sort of training program work out hard and eat well you will grow like a weed. As for what kind of body you develop once you do get into shape, that depends mostly on what cards you've been delt genetically and what your diet looks like. Speaking of diet I can not speak highly enough of INTERMITTENT FASTING. It works better than any other diet protocol I've tried. You'll look better, feel better, have more energy, and just over all feel great. Below are some videos that you might find helpful.

Lee Hayward's Part 1 Beginner's workout plan. If you are farther ahead of this program physically he has a three day training split video series as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxEMEyu5KBk

Intermittent Fasting Explained.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzfsaXsV-T4

Dont be put off by the body builder looking guy teaching you the workouts. Your diet dictates how your body changes, the workouts are what forces the change (to an extent). I'm adding another video to show you what happens if you stay dedicated to improving yourself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqy-iaMVsuY

No go, train hard, eat right and keep educating yourself

 

[Byron]

Hey thanks everybody. Ross, that really explained things well. I've started doing upper body, lower body splits, but using both compound and isolated exercises. This takes a long time, like 1-2 hours per workout (I do abs on the lower body day cause otherwise the upper body day would take more than 2 hours). I will split this up further later, when I have less time. You are right as well, I am going for the more polished, refined look.
Blondie, I am not sure about the intermittent fasting. I watched many of the videos, and they seem to be good, but I have trouble keeping on weight, and tend to lose muscle mass. I have problems eating enough each day to keep up with my working out. I'll try 12-14 hour fasting, but I do need to eat a lot and I am an ectomorph, so I lose weight way too easily. But there are some good ideas there. Thanks!

 

[AsianPersuasion]

I'll second the recommendation for IF. It works wonders. Your workouts are more intense, your recover faster, less food gets stored as fat, and you just overall feel better
- AP
Ross, were you the one that wrote an article on the main site a few months ago?

 

[Byron]

I'm starting a 16 hour IF cycle, so far it is going well. Ross, I have been doing some of the moves from your main article on GC but are there any others you'd recommend, as my intended look differs from yours.

 

[Ross]

I don't really follow those guidelines for rep range or split routine anymore. I wrote that to appeal to what most people want in a body, as well as appeal to what most people fit into their schedule. So, I'd still suggest that schedule to you (you can always do less of certain exercises when you feel that muscle areas is large enough).

Right now I do a split A-off-B-off-repeat split:

Deads 5x5
Squats 5x5
Bench 5x5

And I suggest a much different one for a polished refined body. So those are definitely still your best bet; I'd throw in deadlifts for good measure to tie in the hamstrings/glutes and work the mid-lower back region better. Those are something that I've done quite often since I wrote that article four months ago.

 

[Byron]

What do you guys think of circuit training, mostly with bodyweight stuff? I've heard a lot of good things about that as well.
-youngbyron

 

[Ross]

What do you guys think of circuit training, mostly with bodyweight stuff? I've heard a lot of good things about that as well.
-youngbyron

Well.. I know circuit training can show results. But, unfortunately it doesn't build muscle as fast as other techniques.

The main principle that makes weight lifting work above all others for building muscle is that most programs use a progressive overload technique. Progressively increasing intensity is how you are going to keep making gains. When you are using bodyweight exercises, it is very hard to gauge progressive overload. You can increase reps, but it is very difficult to increase load. You get to a point of diminishing gains. A good way to counter-act this is to make them harder and harder, but unfortunately it is just way less efficient than gradually increasing load at the same rep range.

I feel like you overthinking the training right now. I felt the same way when I first started reading about the many different types of training. It seems like there are many, many ways to get the same thing; and I used to wonder, which way is the best?

Unfortunately this is a dangerous trap.. I kept switching between tons of different training schedules and could never decide on one. It's very hard to progressively overload in something when the exercises and rep ranges are changing. In order to prevent this, I found it was best to commit myself towards a training schedule for 12 weeks. Only after I finished those 12 weeks did I move onto another workout regimen.

 

[Byron]

I am over-thinking it a bit, but I also travel a lot and don't always have access to weights. Tonight I am flying out heading to the USA and I won't have access to weights for a week, so I am going to turn to body-weight exercises for that week, and then return to my normal schedule.
you're right though
-youngbyron