Tips on Toning

RgrTht

RgrTht

New member
Does anyone have good tips on how to tone up your body, when you are in good shape but would just like some definition? I'm a naturally big guy, last time I got my body fat tested (calipers) I was at about 19% and I weighed 255. That was when I was just doing 1hr to 1 1/2 hrs of cardio a day. Now I have switched to lifting for about 2 months and do cardio probably an average of 3 times a week, and have dropped to about 245, but with still no definition. I eat around 2000-2500 cals a day, very low carbs at night, and work out 4-5 times a week, hitting every muscle group. All I do is isolation muscle workouts though, and no other cardio workouts besides playing racquetball.

Any Suggestions?
 
RgrTht said:
Does anyone have good tips on how to tone
Lower your body fat to around 8-10%
up your body, when you are in good shape but would just like some definition? I'm a naturally big guy, last time I got my body fat tested (calipers) I was at about 19%
WAY to high of a BF to have major definition.
and I weighed 255. That was when I was just doing 1hr to 1 1/2 hrs of cardio a day. near pointless.

Now I have switched to lifting for about 2 months and do cardio probably an average of 3 times a week,good

and have dropped to about 245,
congrats but with still no definition.

I eat around 2000-2500 cals a day,
Sounds as if this be high. Whats your hight/age? ASwell even if 2000calories were right for you to loose weight. You will not easily find success by having such a large difference in day to day calorie intake. Stick to 150-350 calories of your goal EVERY DAY.

very low carbs at night,
Your likely doing it because of the MYTH that carbs make you fat if you eat them at night.
However the dinner meal is best designed around fats and complete proteins with fiber. This allows slow digestion of the protein to help keep your body from entering a canabolistic state while sleeping.

and work out 4-5 times a week, hitting every muscle group. All I do is isolation muscle workouts though
Complete waste of time. Replace ALL isolations with a routine consisting of multi joint (compound) movements. Stick with either a full body routine 2-3xweek or an upper/lower split 4-5 times a week. both should last around an hour to complete.

, and no other cardio workouts besides playing racquetball.
If your goal is weight loss then i would then i would strongly suggest some form of cardio. Keep up 25-30minutes in length. Keep the intensity high through out most of this duration.

Any Suggestions?
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Read bold

Your goal is weight loss correct? If so find your BMR then lower your daily calorie intake to about 350-500calories below your BMR. Couple this with exercise to begin to loose weight.

Remember when loosing weight your objective doing resistance training is to retain the muscle mass you currently have and further caloric expenditure. Hypertrophy(getting big muscles in simple terms) requires and "Excess" of calories. Something that you do not have while in a "calorie deficient".
 
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[Squall];266613 said:
Read bold

Your goal is weight loss correct? If so find your BMR then lower your daily calorie intake to about 350-500calories below your BMR. Couple this with exercise to begin to loose weight.

Remember when loosing weight your objective doing resistance training is to retain the muscle mass you currently have and further caloric expenditure. Hypertrophy(getting big muscles in simple terms) requires and "Excess" of calories. Something that you do not have while in a "calorie deficient".
Click to expand...

Interesting that you determine caloric intake this way.

What if the person has an enormous energy expenditure via job, athletics, etc? You still base it on BMR?
 
Steve said:
Interesting that you determine caloric intake this way.

What if the person has an enormous energy expenditure via job, athletics, etc? You still base it on BMR?
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generally speaking people with such jobs are not overweight to begin with. Same generalization apply to athletics. Besides I can't draw out a plan for his entire lifestyle. Don't have the time to go that into detail for free;).
 
[Squall];266709 said:
generally speaking people with such jobs are not overweight to begin with. Same generalization apply to athletics. Besides I can't draw out a plan for his entire lifestyle. Don't have the time to go that into detail for free;).
Click to expand...

What do you mean for free? Are you serious? You want me to pay you for information?

No matter how active the person is, I think it is more effective to base their caloric cut off of total caloric expenditure, not only BMR.
 
Steve said:
No matter how active the person is, I think it is more effective to base their caloric cut off of total caloric expenditure, not only BMR.
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This is the part I added.

No need for response really.
 
Steve said:
This is the part I added.

No need for response really.
Click to expand...

No, You make a good point. This can ensure a caloric deficient is kept reasonable. But again, for the average person going off the BMR works fine IMO. Especially with what info we were given.

Would you rather me take his entire lifestyle, food intake, workout, and genetics into play to truly give a "perfect" amount of calories to consume while loosing weight?
 
[Squall];266613 said:
Read bold

Your goal is weight loss correct? If so find your BMR then lower your daily calorie intake to about 350-500calories below your BMR. Couple this with exercise to begin to loose weight.

Remember when loosing weight your objective doing resistance training is to retain the muscle mass you currently have and further caloric expenditure. Hypertrophy(getting big muscles in simple terms) requires and "Excess" of calories. Something that you do not have while in a "calorie deficient".
Click to expand...

Shouldn't it be ' find your daily maintenance calories, then lower your daily calorie intake to about 350-500 calories below your daily maintenance calories ' ?

I always thought BMR was equivalent to a " coma level " requirement of calories - just what you need to sustain life. Too that, you'd add a slight bump for active rest - i.e RMR. And to that RMR, various components of caloric expenditures to account for things like digestion, fuel replentishment, your daily activity level and ( of course ) any exercise you do. When all the components are combined, you end up with an estimate of your daily maintenance calories.

Then again, perhaps your understanding of the definition of BMR simply differs from mine.
 
[Squall];266726 said:
No, You make a good point. This can ensure a caloric deficient is kept reasonable. But again, for the average person going off the BMR works fine IMO. Especially with what info we were given.

Would you rather me take his entire lifestyle, food intake, workout, and genetics into play to truly give a "perfect" amount of calories to consume while loosing weight?
Click to expand...

LOL.

No, of course not. You are moving from one extreme to the other. There is a fine middle ground.

And that is ESTIMATING the individuals maintenance level. Much better IMO.
 
[Squall];266726 said:
No, You make a good point. This can ensure a caloric deficient is kept reasonable. But again, for the average person going off the BMR works fine IMO. Especially with what info we were given.

Would you rather me take his entire lifestyle, food intake, workout, and genetics into play to truly give a "perfect" amount of calories to consume while loosing weight?
Click to expand...

Well, I think if advice were being given as to what a prudent approach to creating a calorie deficit might look like - BMR is just the starting point as BMR is largely driven by lean muscle mass. As I said before, things you mentioned above like calorie expenditures for " entire lifestyle " & " workout " as well as things I mentioned like calorie expenditures for digestion and fuel replentishment have to be added to BMR to get some ballpark of what one's daily caloric maintenance needs might be.

In fact, I could see those items beyond BMR / RMR accounting for 20% - 50% of one's overall daily maintenance calorie estimates.
 
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Thanks for all the great feedback squall. In response to your question, I am 5'10" 245 at this point in time. I find it interesting that you feel I should be doing circuit lifting instead of isolation lifting, being that I've always felt Isolation did so much more for my metabolic rate. Is this not the case? I do have quite a bit of lean mass for my size (over 200 lbs), would a circuit training such as you suggest be preferrable for someone of my body type? Also, do you not feel that a half hour of racquetball is not a suitable cardio? I've almost likened it to a HIIT training, b/c of the nature of the game.

Once again I appreciate your insights and would love to know your reasoning behind these, so I can become more knowledgable on the subject myself :)
 
He didn't say circuit training.

At least I don't think so.

I believe he was recommending 2-3 days of full body workouts consisting predominantly of compound exercises.

And if that is the case, I concur.
 
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