Can someone help me?

[AgentOrange]

Hi guys and girls. I have a few questions regarding bodybuilding that have played on my mind for a while. I was hoping some more experienced ppl might be able to help me out.

1) Why is it programs like "Body for life" yield such impressive results in alot of people FAT or HARD gainers when its exactly the same diet/excersizes for both? Would not you put a hard gainer on a more mass diet? And someone slightyl fatter cut their carbs on the way down and add them on the way up? I'am a heavier guy do you think i should use this program and tweak the diet slightly?

2)Why do the results in programs like BFL and others say hings like "Joe added X ammount of muscle and cut his fat down to 12%" when everything else you read suggests leaning and bulking cycles and "u cant burn fat and add muscle and the same time" type of stuff? When judging by some peoples accounts you can do just that!?

Thanks

-Confussed

ps: Basicly ive been dicking around in and out of the gym for a few years and made good results when fully commited. Ive just rejoined the gym and want to get stuck in for good as a lifestyle change and want to workout a way to get the best results i can for this summer and there on after.

[Pseudonym]

Hi there AgentOrange. Welcome.

I'm not familiar with the Body For Life diet/routine, so I'll leave question #1 for someone else to answer.

As for #2, it's certainly possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. I've done it myself... bodyfat went down, weight stayed the same, ergo I must have gained muscle. You're right though - there are people who say it can't be done. I think this is a fairly old school of thought though, and most people now accept that it's perfectly possible to do.

Having said that though, there are limits. As you train and grow, and come closer to your genetic potential, it becomes harder and harder to keep adding more muscle. At this point, there may be some advantages to a "dirty bulk" where a lot of fat is put on in the hope that a little muscle will come with it.

Good questions.

[deegee]

Pseudo "Add fat and gain muscle" ??

I think why body for life works is diet. A good diet is the key to seeing results in the gym regardless of goals, and honestly most peoples diet is sub standard whether a hard gainer or over weight.

[Pseudonym]

Good spot. I was just seeing if you were paying attention.

Now edited.

[AgentOrange]

thanks guys...any other opinions nzbbers?

[NZPT]

body for life is a programme that involves an upper body programme, lower body programme and alternating each of these with a high intensity 20 minute cardio programme(interval style training). this is performed 6 days per week with an eating plan based on keeping insulin levels stable through smaller meals more often. this is done through equal portions of protien and carbs per meal with the rest of each meal provided through vegatables.

i think it works well if people stick ridgidly to it. exercise daily with a reduced calorie diet that provides alot of protien makes the calorie deficite required each day. in conjunction with weight training and protien intake lean muscle can be developed in turn expending more calories at rest through increasing metabolic rate.

hope this makes it clear for you mate, at the end of the day similar results can be achieved through a similar style of training not just body for life.

NZPT

[Dumbelldog]

I've trained a few people through Body for life, as a matter of fact I'm training two people now. Ther are husband and wife one is overweight and one need to gain muscle and only lose a fraction of fat.

In my opinion you are right Agent orange if I were training you and you were overweight I would restrict your carbs more, especially from 3pm and I would get you doing the 3 days weights as described in the system plus as much cardio as you could stand (for 12 weeks) to get the best result for the overweight person.

For the one that needs to gain muscle the skinnier one I have her doing 4 days per week of intense weights and only two days per week of cardio such as bikeing and swimming which will both add muscle tone as well. I let her eat a few more carbs as well because she will burn them off easier. Her body will be less inclined to store them, but she must also eat plenty of clean protein to help with the muscle gain.

The thing with body for life is that it is a generic system that does work remarkibly well for all (for 12 weeks) because of the reasons already mentioned clean food weights, cardio etc. It is aimed at a level so as people off the street can read all of the info and if they follow it will work for all body types, with out the need for PT's etc, ie it is very accesible for the average person.

I believe that after that 12 week period if those people want to carry on seing good results then they will need to and have an individualised programme that will look maybe a little like I explained at the top.

Hope that puts the right spin on it for you, anyway they are my thoughts. 8)