Q&A for: 16-Apr-06
1507. Q:
I was just wondering... when you say something like 12 repitions in a set, say, for arms, is that 12 reps per arm or 12 total (6 each)?
A:
It's 12 repetitions for each arm. If you do barbell exercises, that means 12 reps total (because both arms are working in each rep) and if you do dumbbell exercises, then 12 reps for each arm. Either way, each arm does 12 reps per set.
1508. Q:
hi mike im very curious about the human body , its like today what i eat , does it immediately converts and stores the excess as fats
A:
Great question! To some degree, yes, but it is definitely oversimplifying things. The processes of using energy and storing energy (both as glycogen reserves in muscles and organs and as fat reserves) are continuous in your body and continuously happen in a million different places. An act of eating provides a large influx of new energy, so it may slow down some of the existing processes that 'mine' old energy reserves for awhile and accelerate some of the existing energy-storing processes. But the notion that all new calories are immediately either used or stored as fats is an oversimplification. Check out my answer to Q&A #258 for more discussion.
1509. Q:
I have been training for nine months.I have been able to gain a good amount of muscle and lose a lot of fat. I usually do weights 4 times weeks and cardio twice a week, when I am bulking. And when I am trying to lose fat I do the same amount of weights and an extra day of cardio. Starting next month I will be going to school a lot more and working full time. How can I compress my workouts so that I don't have to go to the gym so often? I am going to be really busy with school about nine hours a week and all the studying that goes with that.
A:
Congrats on your progress over last 9 months! My recommendation to save time would be to switch to a low-volume high-intensite whole-body routine for weights and also switch to HIIT from regular cardio.
You can do weights 3 times/week with only 10-12 sets per session which should take well under 45 minutes. The key is to focus on big compound exercises like squat, deadlift, lunges, bench press, pullup/pulldown, rows, and shoulder press. These big exercises carry the most punch and will allow you to continue good progress even if you never do isolation exercises like bicep curls or tricep extensions or knee extensions. There are a number of low-volume high-intensity programs you can put together around these exercises, for example I have: this, this, and this (the last one is strength-specific program designed to help you get stronger in squat/deadlift/bench).
As far as cardio, you can substitute it with HIIT for shorter, more intense sessions. Check out Q&A #1394 to learn about HIIT. Good luck!
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