Those who have been following Beck's transformational saga know that the 59 year old badly sprained an ankle and bruised his tailbone on Thursday, September 4th. This necessitated an "in-flight" course correction: cardio walking was eliminated and all squatting and deadlifting curtailed. Injuries happen, and though Beck's injury was completely unrelated to training, (he missed a step coming off a curb) savvy trainers don't quit training - they devise a way to train around the injury.
Because Beck's twisted ankle prevented lower body work, we "doubled up" on the upper body and substituted seated exercises for standing ones. Curls, tricep pushdowns and lat pulldowns replaced squats and deadlifts. I told him that because his cardio walking was out of the question and because his regular weight routine was derailed, in order to stay on our weight loss schedule he needed to cut back on his caloric intake in order to compensate.
Most trainers are completely ignorant of the ultra-basic Energy Balance Equation - which, put simply, means if daily caloric intake exceeds daily caloric expenditure then guess what: no weight loss is possible. Because his cardio was curtailed he needed to compensate for "un-burned" calories. Since he was burning between 300-500 calories per cardio walking session, Beck needed to reduce his caloric intake between 300 and 500 calories per day. His weight goal for this week was to weigh in Monday at 216 pounds.
His strength level continued improving at a rapid rate despite the injury. This was evidenced by his ability to dumbbell bench press a pair of 55s for two sets of five reps. Beck indicated that his ankle was completely healed so we will recommence squatting and deadlifting in Week VII. He hit a cardio session towards the end of week six and commented how (relatively) out of shape he felt compared to his pre-accident cardio condition. I told him not to worry about this and pointed out a Purposefully Primitive Truth: cardio conditioning is the easiest and fastest to obtain and the quickest to flee.
When an untrained individual begins training, improvement in cardio comes rapidly. When the trainee ceases cardio training for whatever reason, their cardio condition recedes just as quickly. Strength is the hardest and slowest to obtain yet once obtained can be retained for a long time even if the trainee quits completely.
Beck will be able to reacquire 90% of his previous cardio condition within his first full week of training. Below are his comments on how week six unfolded...BTW - at the Monday morning weigh-in that ended week six he weighed 216.2 pounds!
Marty,
Here's my week 6 update. The weights went well: the last set of curls and tricep pushdowns were tough and I backed off the curls when my form broke down. DB bench press went smoothly all three days. I lost a lot of cardio progress; my asthma was kicking in but still I improved each day. Decided to handle hills as intervals, i.e., go as fast and far as possible until a full recovery stop was required. I would then rest until I felt recovered (regardless of pulse rate) before continuing. Set-backs generally occurred on steep hills; which was quite logical. I guess the 10 days off cardio kicked my butt cardio wise. My ankle is totally recovered. Nutrition has not been perfect due to a few biz lunches and my quarterly trip to Annapolis with a Navy bud. I have been losing steadily and expect to make target weight on Monday morning. Right now I can't eat "badly" even if I want to - If I eat junk it makes me sick. Chips and salsa are my biggest temptation. I only had a few at lunch last week. Also went with the veggie omelet, no cheese this morning instead of my usual chili and cheese omelet. My good buddy quizzed me on what I'm doing - on account of I am visibly improving - so I filled him in and suggested he buy your book!
Best weekly weight performances
Dumbbell Bench Press 1x5 with a pair of 50s; 2x5 w/ 55s
Incline Curls 2x10 with a pair of 27.5; 1x7 w/27.5
Tricep Pushdowns 3x10 with 50 pounds
Lat Pulldown 3x10 with 100 pounds
Because Beck's twisted ankle prevented lower body work, we "doubled up" on the upper body and substituted seated exercises for standing ones. Curls, tricep pushdowns and lat pulldowns replaced squats and deadlifts. I told him that because his cardio walking was out of the question and because his regular weight routine was derailed, in order to stay on our weight loss schedule he needed to cut back on his caloric intake in order to compensate.
Most trainers are completely ignorant of the ultra-basic Energy Balance Equation - which, put simply, means if daily caloric intake exceeds daily caloric expenditure then guess what: no weight loss is possible. Because his cardio was curtailed he needed to compensate for "un-burned" calories. Since he was burning between 300-500 calories per cardio walking session, Beck needed to reduce his caloric intake between 300 and 500 calories per day. His weight goal for this week was to weigh in Monday at 216 pounds.
His strength level continued improving at a rapid rate despite the injury. This was evidenced by his ability to dumbbell bench press a pair of 55s for two sets of five reps. Beck indicated that his ankle was completely healed so we will recommence squatting and deadlifting in Week VII. He hit a cardio session towards the end of week six and commented how (relatively) out of shape he felt compared to his pre-accident cardio condition. I told him not to worry about this and pointed out a Purposefully Primitive Truth: cardio conditioning is the easiest and fastest to obtain and the quickest to flee.
When an untrained individual begins training, improvement in cardio comes rapidly. When the trainee ceases cardio training for whatever reason, their cardio condition recedes just as quickly. Strength is the hardest and slowest to obtain yet once obtained can be retained for a long time even if the trainee quits completely.
Beck will be able to reacquire 90% of his previous cardio condition within his first full week of training. Below are his comments on how week six unfolded...BTW - at the Monday morning weigh-in that ended week six he weighed 216.2 pounds!
Marty,
Here's my week 6 update. The weights went well: the last set of curls and tricep pushdowns were tough and I backed off the curls when my form broke down. DB bench press went smoothly all three days. I lost a lot of cardio progress; my asthma was kicking in but still I improved each day. Decided to handle hills as intervals, i.e., go as fast and far as possible until a full recovery stop was required. I would then rest until I felt recovered (regardless of pulse rate) before continuing. Set-backs generally occurred on steep hills; which was quite logical. I guess the 10 days off cardio kicked my butt cardio wise. My ankle is totally recovered. Nutrition has not been perfect due to a few biz lunches and my quarterly trip to Annapolis with a Navy bud. I have been losing steadily and expect to make target weight on Monday morning. Right now I can't eat "badly" even if I want to - If I eat junk it makes me sick. Chips and salsa are my biggest temptation. I only had a few at lunch last week. Also went with the veggie omelet, no cheese this morning instead of my usual chili and cheese omelet. My good buddy quizzed me on what I'm doing - on account of I am visibly improving - so I filled him in and suggested he buy your book!
Best weekly weight performances
Dumbbell Bench Press 1x5 with a pair of 50s; 2x5 w/ 55s
Incline Curls 2x10 with a pair of 27.5; 1x7 w/27.5
Tricep Pushdowns 3x10 with 50 pounds
Lat Pulldown 3x10 with 100 pounds
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