full body strength training 3 times a week???

ok, so i was wondering if strength training 3 times a week, still doing hiit, intervals & light running, is a good idea?

im planning to start a new regime (i do that about every 6-8 weeks) in a couple of weeks. 

from the time my new regime starts, i have 6 weeks before i get married. im trying to look as 'cut' as i can for the honeymoon. i know diet is key, but for me exercising is almost about 40% of why i look much better than before.

EDIT: or would 2 days of full strength training & another day of circuit type of strength training sound better???

sounds great, keep up the good work! Remember diet is 80%, so stick to that as much as possible to get results. Good Luck!

 Diet is - 100%, exercise is 100% - I like what Berardi's been saying lately: "Quit trying to quantify it, it's all important, okay?"

 Do Real Fast Fat Loss - it's not a strength training workout as such, but it will kick your fat burning into high gear.

Hi Melkor - what do you recommend as a great workout for the highest metabolic cost? Circuits? Tabata? HIIT?  Or a combo?  I have been doing all, but would like some advice if you would please??

Original Post by melkor:

Diet is - 100%, exercise is 100% - I like what Berardi's been saying lately: "Quit trying to quantify it, it's all important, okay?"

Do Real Fast Fat Loss - it's not a strength training workout as such, but it will kick your fat burning into high gear.

ok ill give it a shot for 6 weeks. my only concern is that i can keep all the muscles.  have to get back to working on the diet. its going to be a busy month in sept so i might have to create some meal plans for myself for no brainer meals. cheer

RFFL worked beautifully for me for about 8 weeks - then I modified some of the exercises and extended the lifespan of the program by another few weeks.

 The highest metabolic cost workouts is either a hybrid lifts/circuit workout like RFFL, or a weights/sprint workout like Dan John's Litvinov Sprints workout (which Glassman nicked and renamed Crossfit) - Charles Poliquin and Don Alessi have also written programs like that, and the rough general format of moving a lot of weight in a short period of time combined with very litte rest works as advertised.

 I didn't notice much of any muscle loss on the RFFL plan, but it's not a good match for someone who's significantly overweight or very low in BF% already - in one case it's excessive in relation to your condition, in the other it's excessive in relation to how little fat you can burn in a day.

 See if it matches your current needs and goals, and if it looks like it fits within your current overall plan, give it a try for a couple weeks :)

Sounds good Melkor!  I'll give it a try... I'm already lifting heavy and doing HIIT, but I'm currently at around 24% BF and would like to lean up some, drop from 145 to the 120 range and show the muscle that's hiding!  I also have really modified my diet quite a bit as well.  Thanks!

Original Post by melkor:


I didn't notice much of any muscle loss on the RFFL plan, but it's not a good match for someone who's significantly overweight or very low in BF% already - in one case it's excessive in relation to your condition, in the other it's excessive in relation to how little fat you can burn in a day.

well im in between that. im really on maintenance now, but still have enough body fat on my lower body to get rid of.

Ah, then it it probably is a good match for you - give at go and see how it disagrees with you ;)

 The program kicked my behind - if you read my journal I was complaining about it for four straight weeks before my conditioning caught up :) So expect it to be hard if you do it right - and expect results you'll love as well.

melkor, my gym is not the most equipped. what do you suggest to replace the prone plank, swiss ball exercise, number 3 on workout b? any suggestions. i think im going to "try" 1 exercise at a time until i start the full program in a couple of weeks. one thing about changing up my workouts is that it takes a little more time during the first couple of sessions to speed things up.

You wouldn't get the extra ab work/balance training from it, but regular decline pushups (legs up on a bench or chair) should work for some values of work.

 Or you might borrow a basketball or other regular ball and use that to do decline pushups without the knee tuck, you'd get the balance training that way even if the decline wouldn't be significant enough to increase the training effect over regular pushups.

melkor, ok thanks. i've tried a couple of the moves in my existing routine just to get familiar with them. the only problem i have is that the heaviest weight relies upon my weakest muscles used in any of the moves (& so i dont topple over on my arse as well).

so im a bit wary about not doing at least 1 session of more specific moves working other body parts to their maximum. like i really need to do more deadlifts (butt & hams need more work than quads) but then i think i can also leave out some other moves like squats in that one session since i find that the squats & lunges in rffl sessions will be enough for me.

im sure i'll still get some good results if i only do those rffl workouts twice a week & add in another session working areas that need work. anyway i plan to keep reporting back, i have one more week or so of my existing routine then i'll start on the one you suggested.

Melkor, This program needs to have a warning stating you won't be able to walk the next day!!! :) Holy crap, I did work out A this morning and I am already sore.  I love it.  This is great.  Thanks so much for the info Melkor, your the best. 

I do have a question for you though.  I know you are not a fan of long distance running but I would like to continue to run my 3 miles.  Should I do this on one of my days off?  Or is that to much you think.

rnjt if you want to go through this tortures program together get me updated

Leslee: Heh, well, I've been running myself a couple times over the past two weeks - still hate it, but weights can't do everything you want/need for a complete health regime even if they've got cardio beat but good for fat loss.

 Fat loss is only one, rather narrow aspect of overall health - you want a bit of strength, a bit of flexibility and a bit of cardio in your plan for optimal results; how much of each depends on what your main interest and focus is, but a bit of cross-training improves performance across the board.

 You'd have to try it and see to figure out if the RFFL program overloads your legs with all those lunges and squats or if you can take it; 'cause it depends a lot on your conditioning level. An experienced runner with a good base level of conditioning would probably see running performance increase as your legs got stronger, as long as fatigue didn't mask performance. If you're relatively new to running and have recently increased distances you might see performance degrade for a while; RFFL is brutal and will use up most of your body's adaptive capacity.

 At the same time, some easy runs within your current level of conditioning will aid you in recovery by getting the blood moving and transporting more nutrients to your muscles.

 And make sure that you get at least one day off from all exercise a week, your body needs the downtime to adapt :)

 Which means that the best advice is to try it and see what happens, but be prepared to scale back to running either fewer days a week or perhaps slightly shorter distances for the first 2-4 weeks while the impact of changing workout regimes is the highest.

 Rnjt: Alwyn Cosgrove cautions against trying to do too much at once - like doing a RFFL-style program to lose fat, keep on strength training to maintain your squat poundage, and to add miles to your runs - you've got limited recuperative capacity and you'd want to prioritize how you use it in order of importance.

 And though you aren't working limit strength of your largest muscle groups with RFFL you can improve your lifts anyway if my own results are anything to go by - you're improving the limit strength of the smaller muscle groups in your kinetic chains, which translates into increased poundage on the big lifts by improving your limiting factors. So overall I think you'll see better results if you do the program as written for a few weeks and then do your regular lifting for a few than if you try to mix'n'match - your body responds best to radical change in yur workouts, so completely switching workouts on a periodical basis means better progress in almost all cases.

 'course, for both of you the primary rule is: consistency counts for more than anything else you can think of when it comes to fitness, so make whatever changes and adaptations to the program that lets you be consistent about it. It might not be as effective as doing it straight, but it beats not doing anything because not modifying it to suit your individual needs made you discouraged and caused you to quit, neh?

Well I love lifting weights.  I hate it when I am not strong enough to do a task.  I groom dogs and I hate being dependent on someone else to lift the big fattys into the tub.  I just like being independent i guess :)  Plus I can continue to lift inside when there is a foot of snow outside.  I can not run 3 miles on a treadmill, 2 is pushing the boredom factor.  I just went and bought a weight set and I am so excited

I know everyone is different but how many times do you think I can look to increase my weight during this program?  Do I just increase when it's not so difficult?

leslee, i would love your job. there's nothing like a nicely groomed, soft smelling cuddly doggie.

melkor, i understand & will focus on what the plan has. altho i might sneak in just 2 moves for my triceps (they started to grow back nicely but they disappear quite quickly if not paid special attention). anyway, getting all psyched up to start next week.

rnjt swiss balls can be purchased for $10 to $20 if you want one.

I need a replacement for exercise 2c on work out B it's the Squat jump to chin with knee tuck.  I don't have anything to do a pull up on, not that I could do one anyway lol

Well, you can get a chinup bar for about $5 from the dollar store, but when I did this workout I didn't trust mine to remain hanging so I did squat jumps and then chinup/knee tucks separately.

 You might use squat thrusts or burpees as a replacement move - it doesn't quite have the same effect and it's a bit too similar to the pushup/knee tuck to be really optimal, but it's at least an alternative that might be workable.

Original Post by melkor:

Well, you can get a chinup bar for about $5 from the dollar store, but when I did this workout I didn't trust mine to remain hanging so I did squat jumps and then chinup/knee tucks separately.

 You might use squat thrusts or burpees as a replacement move - it doesn't quite have the same effect and it's a bit too similar to the pushup/knee tuck to be really optimal, but it's at least an alternative that might be workable.

i did burpees with a step up & then tricep dips at the end of it (need to keep tricep muscles) and that was hard enough.

i see the link is no longer available on the site but i printed off the instructions, just can't see the pics but i tried to remember. anyway these exercises are kind of annoying to do at my gym as i have to go to 3 different areas to get weights & so i dont get in people's way (or more importantly they don't get in mine).  so im taking a few extra rest times than suggested. i eased myself into it this week, only doing 2 sessions and most sets, will add in more next week.

I hate it when people change link structure on me. Real Fast Fat Lossis still available, it's just the !"#¤#%"# web geek on T-nation who haven't maintained the link structure of the legacy articles.