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Q&A for: 14-Aug-07

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Ask Mike Your Fitness Question:

2441. Q: how to get ride of chest fat

A: Please read this.

2442. Q:

Hi Mike

Thanks for a great site! I have lost approx 40 pounds over the past year through diet, cardio & weights. I am now 160 pounds (5ft 10, 39yo, male) and although still not as lean as I would like, I plan to gain some muscle mass (10 pounds over the next 4 months) before another cut. I am training 4 days a week (2 day split) and have increased my food intake to 2800 calories (was approx 2000 when losing) . While losing weight I cycled to work (10 miles there, 10 miles back) 3 days a week and really enjoyed it. I now do weights mon, wed, fri & sat. I was hoping to continue cycling on tues & thur - do you think this would be advisable while trying to gain? If cycling is still OK on which days should I do my leg workouts?

Many Thanks - David

 

A: You're very welcome and it's always great to hear successful weight loss stories like yours!! Congratulations!! Your bulk plan sounds good -- sooner or later your metabolism wears down and the progress of a cut stops. Bulking is the best way to jump-start again. As far as biking a lot as your planned , it's certainly not optimal for bulking, but at the same time if you keep your calories up it shouldn't hurt your progress too much. Figure around 40 calories per mile of biking, so on those days when you bike 20 miles, you'll want to add as much as 800 calories to your regular diet. I wouldn't bike that much daily on a bulk, but just twice a week shouldn't hinder you that much. Good luck and hope to hear back from you on your bulk progress!

2444. Q: Hey im a 14 year old kid, 77 Kg 6Foot tall and i go gym 7 days a week, sum times 2 times a day adnd i lift really heavy stuff. is this bad for my body?

A: It's not bad as long as you lift safely and don't injure yourself. At your age a serious injury, besides being bad in itself of course, can also stunt your growth and you probably still have room to grow at 14. So make sure you make safety and good form your priority over maximum possible weight lifted. And use spotters on exercises like barbell bench press. As long as you exercise safely and eat healthy, exercising a lot should not have any negative side-effects.

2445. Q: I am a thin man around 150 pounds. I had cancer as a child which I was put on pretnisone as an anti-rejection drug. I gained weight because of it. I lost the weight rather quickly after being taken off the drugs. Still I was thin without a flabby chest at the time. Do to some complications I have a very low testoterone count. Would that be a cause for concern? I have just recently lost about 30 pounds. I exercise about every other day by taking a brisk 4 mile walk. I really don't weight train all that much. Is there another cardio exercise that I can take up that might strenghten my chest muscles. I was thinking of boxing. Is that good? I am seeing a doctor tomorrow, but any information you could provide would also be helpful. 

A: In a situation like yours with a lot of potential health issues, I would defer to your doctor as to what exercise program you can safely follow. In general, if you don't do weights, then yes, boxing (or shadow boxing or swimming) would be a great complement to the usual lower-body cardio like walking -- they all involve your upper body. But again, I would defer to your doctor on the specific program. Good luck!

2446. Q:

Hi Mike. Im a 17 year old girl and Ive been weight training on and off for a year. I love it and I love building muscle. I was just wondering if using creatine would be a good idea or if it is just for serious athletes? Im hoping to stick to a good training schedule and Im going to really push myself but I was wondering if I could just take it to help me along?

A: Creatine is one of the very few effective supplements known to be safe (aside from minor stomach irritation in some people and slight increase in weight due to extra water retention). At the same time you probably shouldn't expect too much out of it, especially if you are not currently bulking (gaining weight). A successful creatine program may, for example, allow you to lift 5-10% higher weight the same number of reps. For an experienced athelete 5-10% could make a huge difference, but a recreational lifter, especially a beginner, would hardly notice any difference. And a small portion of people seem to derive no benefit from it at all.

So as long as you have realistic expectations of what it might accomplish for you, you could certainly try creatine. My recommendation would be to get plain creatine monohydrate powder (click the picture near the top of this page above the words 'got muscle?') and take it with one of your regular meals (preferably one rich in carbs).