NOT EVEN I HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS!

Contrary to common belief, not even I have all the answers when it comes to fitness / training / diet. The reason being that most often is it depends
There are some parameters that need to be adhered in order to get the promised land

1. You must squat, hip hinge, push and pull in good form and get progressively stronger and better. I shall call this the SHPP principle.
2. You must find exercises for these movements the allow you to create maximum tension in order to get the most out of it.
2. Eat a not completely stupid diet. If you are cutting, think goal weight in lbs x 12, bulking x 15.
3. Recover, meaning sleeping at least 6h a night ( working on it) and taking mental breaks from the gym as well
4. Do some sort of cardio.
5. Ideally, you should be constantly learning about the subject from people who actually know their stuff

Now as the for the more detailed questions, things get more interesting

1.What split should I do?
It depends on how much time you can dedicate to trining , since you have to train the whole body twice a week. if you can only train twice a week, teh answer would be to do two whole body workouts
For a typical total-body workout, one would simply perform four sets of one exercise per group in a progressive manner. That gives you a solid base for your workout. If you free up more time, you can get more creative in your split, but the basics still apply: follow the SHPP principle and train the whole body twice a week. Variations off of that split could be push/pull/ legs or upper body versus lower body splits.
If you can dedicate six days, you can do push/pull/ legs ,repeat./

2. How many sets should I do?
It depends on your recovery ability. Normally I would say 15-20 per muscle group per week but if you are having a stressful week with little sleep you might want to bring the number down a bit.

3. Train to failure?

I advise not to. half reps, forced reps, cheat reps etc will fry your nervous system and delay recovery.

4. Should I go low carb or low fat
Depends. Here is a very smart quote from my old coach that I tell my NYC personal training clients “you have to earn your carbs”. Meaning? The leaner you are and the more you train, the more carbs you need/ deserve.
So, to start, I would set my intake at one gram per pound of bodyweight and see how my body reacts. Do I get stronger? Do I gain weight? Do I lose weight? How is my recovery affected?
From there on, and depending on whether you are bulking or cutting, you manipulate the number up or downwards.

5. Should I do cardio?
How much?
Again, it depends. If you are in cut and you are losing weight, keep as is. If weight loss, stalls add in some cardio.
What kind?
Basically, there are two schools of thought:

– the old school, with long duration, low intensity cardio sessions (45 to 60 minutes at a steady state)

– the new school, recommending high intensity, interval cardio

Which one is right?

In a way, they both are.
LISS (low intensity steady state )
Benefits
1. burns calories post workout, mainly fatty acids. During weight training you achieve glycogen depletion and upregulate CAMP (enzyme supporting fat loss), which means the body will use free fatty acids for energy in the follow-up cardio session.

2. low stress on joints and central feverous system

HIIT cardio also has its merits.
1. It creates a higher energy output per minute than steady state cardio,
2. and it saves time since it only takes 20 to 25 minutes. Your heart rate reaches higher peaks when performing HIIT cardio and your basic metabolic rate (BMR) stays elevated for 24 hours after the session, which means you burn some additional calories after the session. If you are pressed for time, 20 minutes of HIIT will burn more calories than regular low-intensity cardio.
3. Additionally, studies show that a greater mobilization of body fat occurs because HIIT triggers an increase in catecholamines (adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine).

Bottom line
Both will get you to shredded land, LISS will take a bit longer but its easier to add extra training time this way . If you train heavy, are heavy ( like me) sprinting will cause a great deal of stress of the joints so I stay away from it.

These are just a few examples to show you that it pays to know the science behind diet and exericise in order to make the most out of it.
Here you will find the latest video on water and carbohydrate manipulation https://youtu.be/e1Y55GDe-Bw
Maik

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