Got Built?

My friend Lisa has three beautiful children - and is still nursing the most recent addition to her family. She’s already started to lose the baby weight - Lisa is already down to 196 lbs, having started at 226 lbs a few months ago. She’s doing really well, and wants to make sure she continues to make progress while building up her strength training.

Starting Parameters

Height: 5’7.5”
Weight: 196# (but I’m holding water big-time—I think my “real” weight is 193.)
Bodyfat estimate: 39.6%
LBM: about 118 lbs based on this estimate

Measurements (cm)

• Around shoulders: 108
• High bust (over boobs): 109
• At bra-line: 90
• Natural waist: 91.5
• Abdomen (at navel): 109
• Hips: 99
• Around butt: 108.5
• Right thigh: 64
• Left thigh: 64
• Right calf: 39
• Left calf: 39
• Right bicep, flexed: 33
• Right bicep, relaxed: 31.5
• Left bicep, flexed: 33
• Left bicep, relaxed: 31.5

Short term goal: To lose as much fat as fast as possible, ha. I started at 226#, but need some help now.
Long term goal: To have someone ask me if I’m a competing natural bodybuilder.
Maintenance calories (calculated, with 4 days of lifting and little/no cardio): 2,550
Injuries: none
Restrictions:

• breastfeeding, so can’t go too low with cals (40% deficit probably cut-off point for now)
• taking low doses of blood pressure control meds, one of which supposedly can stimulate insulin. So far they haven’t seemed to interfere with weight loss. I thought I’d have to go low carb to keep headaches at bay, but find they stay away even with a few occasional high carb days tossed in.
• home gym, so no access to cables, machines, or leg press
• have stationary bike, regular bike, and the open road for cardio, but haven’t done much of any recently.

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My suggestions: For diet, I’ve suggested a carb cycle because it’s a nice way to limit calories while keeping appetite under control AND feeding intense activity the carbs it requires. Best of both worlds, really.
LBM = 118 lbs.
Maintenance calories: 2550 per day;
3 lifting/HIIT days per week.
A caloric deficit of 4,463 calories per week,
for a loss of of 1.3 pounds per week

Average daily macros:
174g of protein,
87g of fat, and
109g of carbohydrate,
1,913 calories in total.

(3) Lifting/HIIT days:
174g of protein,
77g of fat, and
174g of carbohydrate,
2,083 calories in total.

(4) Rest/SS Cardio days:
174g of protein,
94g of fat, and
60g of carbohydrate,
1,784 calories in total.

With regard to training, I’m thinking while Lisa’s … um, well, still a little “juicy”, (Lisa, you know I love you…) she can probably do a little more metabolic work to keep that weight dropping steadily without dropping too low in calories. If we plan this right, she’ll bring up her endurance base and heart-stroke with some strategic cardio sessions interspersed throughout a solid core of heavy lifting to strengthen (and hopefully build, a little) her muscles while she drops fat. As she leans out, this cardio work will move away from the endurance stuff and toward more concentrated HIIT-type training, gradually moving toward a reduced-volume “Baby Got Back” lifting framework; four short lifting workouts a week while we keep the iron on the bar.

Here’s what Lisa has been doing up until this point:

Monday-strength, vert
A1. OHP 3×5
A2. Front Squats 3×5
B1. Neg. Chinups 3×5
B2. Deadlifts 3×5

Tues.-metabolic, horiz
giant set, 3 circuits, 12 reps ea
A1. Incl DB Bench
A2. Bulgarian Split Squats
A3. Rev Prone DB Rows
A4. SHELC

Wed.-off

Thurs.-Strength, horiz
A1. Flat BB Bench 3×5
A2. ATG Squat 3×5
B1. Bent Over Row 3×5
B2. Good Morning 3×5

Fri-metabolic, vert
giant set, 3 circuits, 12 reps ea
A1. Arnies
A2. Goblet Squats
A3. Resistance Bands pulldowns
A4. RDL

Here’s what I’m thinking to start with:
- Basically, a combination of these workouts, plus one full-body workout, a little more ss cardio for now, and one day with hill repeats. The metabolic work will be turned into lower-rep versions of themselves, as in complexes.

Strength, vertical
OHP 3×5
Front Squats 3×5
Neg. Chinups 3×5
Deadlifts 3×5

Complexes, horizontal
6 reps of each, do entire series then rest 60-90 seconds. Repeat until you’ve completed the series 4-6 times. The whole thing should take you about 12 minutes.

• H1. Incline DB press 32 lbs a side, then sit up, stand, and go into
• H2. DB RDL 32 lbs a side
• H3. DB row 32 lbs a side
• H4. Walking lunges lbs a side

Strength, horizontal
Flat BB Bench 3×5
ATG Squat 3×5
Bent Over Row 3×5
Good Morning 3×5

Complexes, vertical
6 reps of each, do entire series then rest 60-90 seconds. Repeat until you’ve completed the series 4-6 times. The whole thing should take you about 12 minutes.

• V1. DB RDL, 21 lbs a side
• V2. DB OHP, 21 lbs a side
• V3. Goblet Squat, 21 lbs a side
• V4. Resistance Band Pull Downs, green

Full body workout:
A1: Front squats
A2: Romaninan deadlifts

B1: Negative self-assisted chins: slow on way down, any grip you like, shoulder width or narrower
B2: Arnold OR OH presses

C1: One arm dumbbell rows OR bent over rows
C2: Low incline dumbbell press

D1: Bosu ball crunches (weighted with a vertical dumbbell on your chest if you can): Sorta like this, but no twist: http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/WtBallCrunch.html
D2: Toe raises or other tibialis work if desired

For now, do 3 sets of 5-8 reps of each of these. You can do them in straight sets, or in pairs as indicated.

The arrangement could be as follows:
Monday – Vertical strength, horizontal metabolic for complexes, high carb
Tuesday - rest, ss cardio if desired, low carb
Wednesday – Full body weights, 20 minutes moderate intensity post-workout cardio, high carb
Thursday - rest, ss cardio if desired, low carb
Friday – Horizontal strengh, vertical metabolic for complexes, high carb
Saturday - hill repeats, low carb
Sunday - God rested, so do you (but feel free to go out for a stroll if you like).

“Body by Built”

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Results, as of November 28:

Weight Stats:
7/30 194.8 RA: 194.1
8/6 192.2 (-2.6) RA: 193.5 (-0.6)
8/13 191.6 (-0.8 ) RA: 192.8 (-0.7)
8/20 188.8 (-2.8 ) RA: 191.1 (-1.6)
8/28 186.2 (-2.6 ) RA: 189.3 (-1.8 )
9/3 184.8 (-1.4 ) RA: 186.5 (-2.8 )
9/10 182.6 (-2.2 ) RA: 184.7 (-1.8 )
9/17 182.0 (-0.6 ) RA: 183.7 (-1.0 )
9/24 180.2 (-1.8 ) RA: 181.3 (-2.4)
10/1 178.4 (-1.8 ) RA: 180.1 (-1.2)
10/8 176.6 (-1.8 ) RA: 178.7 (-1.4)
10/14 175.2 (-1.4 ) RA: 177.2 (-1.5)
1 week diet break–10/21 183.8 (+8.6 ) RA: 180.3 (+3.1)
10/29 174.2 (-9.6 ) RA: 177.4 (-2.9)
11/5 173.2 (-1.0 ) RA: 176.1 (-1.3)
11/11 173.4 (+0.2) RA: 174.9 (-1.2)
11/19 173.0 (-0.4) RA: 174.0 (-0.9)
11/26 173.8 (+0.8 ) RA: 173.6 (-0.4)

And now, on to the Pre-Christmas Meltdown!