New Years Day Rant!

Yeah yeah Happy New Year blah blah blah.

I mightn't sound it, but trust me I am my 'usual' self full of enthusiasm, it's just another day thats all.

Don't be suprised that at some point last night I may have been over enthused and pushed my views upon unsuspecting guests at my house, now, don't think he reads this (but should my guest be reading this) don't take it the wrong way. As I said, awesome work, he has lost 10kg! Ok, but, here's where I started to preach.... If you loose weight through cardio alone, at some point, your body will start to break down muscle (if it thinks you are not using it) as an energy source to fuel you while you are in calorie deficit and preserve a little fat. So, perhaps not all 10kg is fat. If you have broken down muscle you will have reduced your metabolism (in simple terms you need less energy and therefore less food to function for the day).

Now, my second point was that to combat it you need to weight train PROPERLY! Stuffing around and moving some weights here and there on an inconsistant basis will not necessarily make your body believe it NEEDS that muscle and must keep it. You need to make your body feel the pressure, that functioning daily without that muscle will be hard... Body, don't even think about breaking that muscle down or it will hurt next week! CONSISTANT training, combined with CHALLENGING workouts will ensure you set your body up to not only hold your muscle but gain some, with that, an increase in your metabolism and therefore, you require more fuel (food). If you are not lifting heavier on at MOST a monthly basis, you are doing something wrong, ie, not eating properly for your training, or simply just not trying hard enough.

Now this is where it gets scary, I talk about this all the time with people, it scares the crap out of me, but apparently for most people, spiders, heights and snakes are more scary......

IF YOU DO NOT RESISTANCE TRAIN .... PROPERLY ( see my description of properly above :) ) you will loose about 0.5% of lean muscle mass every year from the age of 24!!!

What does that mean??? Well lets use me as an example. My lean body mass or LBM (ie my organs, bones and muscle) weight is around 48kg on a dexta scan. So should I decide today never to resistance train, new years day 2012 my LBM will decrease by about 240gm (48 x 0.5%) so with the reduced LBM, a reduced metabolism, and well, then accordingly I should reduce my food consumption on a yearly basis to match this so I don't put on weight with age.

If I decide not to train for the next 5 years, I weight 60kg today, and in 5 years time I weigh myself, and I weigh 60kg ........ how good am I? at 37 I weigh the same I did at 32!! (hope my sarcasim came through) but why does my body seem a little 'flabbier' must be age.....in reality oh crap! I have gained about 1.2kg of fat! (240gm over 5year) and lost 1.2kg of muscle! Trust me muscle feels better than fat so you will feel 'flabbier' even though you weigh the same.

Scared yet? because you should be.

Don't blame your age, you CAN combat this muscle breakdown. You just gotta use it! Not only can you combat it, you can make it go the other way, you can add LBM by building muscle (therefore increasing your metabolism)..... that means you can eat more, not less with age. Don't 'fluff' around.... Your body is MADE to move and lift things! Go heavier, go faster, do more reps, I don't care, just don't lift the same amount of weight for the same amount of reps week in week out. Get stronger.

New years day 2012, ask yourself, did I CONSISTENTLY train? did I CHALLENGE myself? am I in fact stronger and can lift heavier? If your answer is NO...... make sure you eat less in 2012, because your body will require less energy. Ask yourself today, do I need to eat less everyday in 2011 to ensure I don't put on weight because I lost muscle over 2010?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

oh and sorry if you have a hangover and feel sorry for yourself and this post just made you feel even sorrier for yourself...... :) haha