My Training Strategy To Get Lean and Stay Strong

I’m a personal trainer and as such, I’ve worked with many people at various stages of life. I wanted to show that all of our bodies are capable of amazing things, and decided it was time for me to put some training principles to the test with me as the test subject!

Not long ago I put on about 15lbs. I went from about 170 up to 184. I wanted to increase my strength and to do it I needed to eat. Although I got stronger, I wanted to shed off the excess body fat that I picked up along the way. I also had developed some shoulder pain, so I wanted to address that at the onset of this training, then return to resistance training once I felt better. At 57 years old, I am finding my recovery times are getting longer. Something I’ll need to plan for.

What are my goals?

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Here are my goals, along with how I intended on measuring them:

1. Continue to work on helping my shoulders feel better. I had been fighting shoulder pain, particularly on the right side. I spent time at the beginning of the program addressing this.
2. Drop body fat to 12% or lower. I knew dropping ONLY body fat would not be possible, but wanted to favor fat loss over muscle. Getting it below 12% is more lean than I’ve ever been. I will measure body fat with Bioelectrical Impedance and waist circumference.
3. Hold onto as much strength as possible. Eventually to rebuild my strength and get back to levels prior to injuries. Once my injuries were better, I would re-introduce strength training into the plan. I will measure strength using my main lifts.
4. Maintain cardiovascular fitness. I will measure this with my heart rate at 4.0 mph walking pace to complete a mile.
5. To be able to do fairly easy, without starving myself or overdoing exercise, and develop something I could do the rest of my life if I chose to.

What was my Plan?
As always, my plan was to eat and train, not diet and exercise. I had specific changes I wanted to make with specific results in mind and I built a specific training plan to get there. Training without a plan and expecting any specific results is not training. It would be like driving your car up and down random streets and expecting that you’d actually arrive to work on time without following a planned route.

How was I going to Eat?
I realized that with my goals to lower body fat and maintain and then increase strength, I was going to have to get very specific with my eating. I wanted to do as much as I could to boost my hormone levels and get my body burning fat, naturally of course! I have never and will never take a drug for performance or esthetics reasons. It is counter intuitive; fitness is about health!

To do this I set a daily caloric level of 2100–2200 calories per day. With my training that put me at small caloric deficit per day. I set my macro goal at 45% Carbs, 35% Protein and 20% Fat. I kept the protein high to hold my muscle and took most of that from my fat percentage.

I wanted my carbs to be at least 45% because I knew I would be doing cardio and weight training, so I needed to support recovery for both those activities. But this was more a guideline, I was not into tracking everything I ate everyday, and mostly ate similar foods on normal days. If you try this, you are going to have to see what is right and best for you based on your own metabolism, activity, intensity and how you feel. Especially if you plateau. It will be a little bit of trial and error but after a short time you should be able to zero in on it. Most importantly, you have to learn to trust how you feel in terms of your own hunger and fullness.

I also introduced 16:8 intermittent fasting. I wanted to experience this eating style for myself. Many of my clients struggle with specific eating plans, calorie counting and other issues that pose difficulty and / or restrictions. From what I had read, intermittent fasting helped people live a less restrictive lifestyle compared to other eating styles, and afforded a greater variety of food choices. In case you don’t know, 16:8 means 16 hours daily fast followed by an 8-hour eating window. My first meal each day was at 12pm and I stopped eating at 8pm, an 8 hour eating window. I chose 16:8 because it’s very balanced, and not too extreme. It seemed like an eating style that could be done indefinitely without feeling deprived. The 16-hour fasting period is supposed to do all sorts of good things ranging from cell repair to increasing hormones and metabolism. There is a lot of good literature on this, not sure how many formal studies but enough good press for me to want to give it a try. It did take a while for me to settle into this, I would say about 8 weeks. After the initial period I will say that it really started to feel normal.

With that decided, I needed to figure out what type of food I was going to eat. I did not want to use a low carbohydrate style. Why? A few reasons. First, if I was going to stay strong and workout hard, I knew I needed to eat carbohydrates to support my training. Not just any carb, but good quality, complex carbs. Personally, I have tried low carb and I just don’t feel very good, and it has impacted my performance. I’m just not as strong, and do not have nearly the stamina for my workouts. I’m sure low carb works well for some people and would not take that away from anyone, but this was about what works for me and what I think will support my training best, and low carb was not my 1st choice. That said, I did everything possible to limit my intake of white flour and sugar. These 2 things are basically the same to your body and although they were part of meals on “special occasions” for me, I did not want assign them much of a role in my everyday life.

If not low carb, then what? A lot of my research pointed to a Mediterranean style diet. This is a long-tested style of eating, that provided a lot of choices and flexibility and boasted long term positive health effects. It is also similar to how I am used to eating so I decided to generally stick to this.

Now, what about those “special occasions”? I knew I had to eliminate sugar and processed foods. No way I was getting below 12% with too many processed foods or too much sugar in my daily life. But I also knew this process was not going to be so rigid for me that I was not going to have birthday cake and pizza. I needed to figure out a way to balance real life into the plan if it was going to have any longer-term value. I decided that treats on special occasions were fine, but I would plan those treats (sugar, white flour, fried foods etc.…) and they would not be part of my daily and normal life but have a place on special occasions. I was careful to manage my special occasions, I had one per week on average. While I did eat and drink what was available, and enjoyed it fully, I made sure I only took what I needed to be satisfied. I knew if I really needed more, I could take it and that was good enough for me.

What about water? Since I drank coffee, it was important to hydrate myself throughout the day and especially for exercise. I used a 24oz double wall Insulated water bottle and filled that about 4 times a day.

I also added 1-2 days per week where I would eat vegetarian. Since I’m into moderation and balance in a lifestyle, I thought it’s a good idea to moderate and balance my meat intake a little better.

Supplements? I only supplemented whey protein in the form of shakes and bars, as well as some vegetable protein in the form of shakes. I did not overdo it with supplements, because they do contain a variety of ingredients and I really have no idea what some of them are! I wanted my metabolism and body to be as free as possible from unknown or processed ingredients so I minimized these.

To summarize, my eating plan was Mediterranean style using 16:8 intermittent fasting. I ate vegetarian 1-2 days per week. On most days I did not eat meat during the day, saving it for my dinner time meal when I did have it. I ate mostly food without any extra ingredients listed, my carb sources included things like whole grains, whole oats, Greek yogurt, fruit, and beans. I did not rigidly track macros and calories daily but did set a plan and was aware of how I felt. I allowed treats for special occasions, about once a week on average, but generally didn’t go overboard with unhealthy quantities.

What was my plan for Training?

Before starting this program, I took several weeks off due to injury. And, when I started, I focused on stability and mobility training to improve my shoulder. Was I worried about getting weaker every single day? Yes, I was! But, I convinced myself that I needed to SLOW DOWN on the weight training to fully recover my injuries first. Those of you who do weight training will know how I felt, but logic prevailed and I got past it.

As I progressed, I worked my way back to the larger multi-joint lifts that are traditionally associated with strength. But I was careful to adapt them to help me build strength without aggravating my injuries. I kept my volume as low as I could to avoid aggravating injuries and still get results. I found that 3 working sets (after warmup) was good enough for me and kept me feeling good. I also continued with my stabilization exercises for my shoulders and included things like planks, push-ups on the floor and on the BOSU or Stability Ball, shoulder scaption exercises, internal/external rotation and other BOSU exercises (also for balance).

I remained careful not to over train, especially as I felt better and wanted to do more. I followed a periodization schedule, which is a weekly increase in intensity and decrease in volume. I kept the workouts fairly short, no more than an hour.

What about cardio? Most people with a goal to lower body fat would spend more time running. However, this is exactly what you do not want to do, especially if you’re interested in your strength. Plus, running is an expensive activity in terms of wear and tear on your body. If you are going to invest a lot of time running, I would make sure that it’s contribution toward your goals is worth the physical cost.

I decided to lower my cardio intensity. Since I was intermittent fasting daily, I incorporated walking into my daily schedule at the end of my fast. It was a funny thing, even though I could run multiple 8-minute miles, walking at a 4-mph pace took getting used to. The walking supported my cardiovascular goal, and also helped my metabolism to use fat a fuel source, which supported my physiological body fat goal.

What did all this look like? What did I eat and how did I train?
Below is a sample day. The measurements for the food are approximate, I did not weigh things that often. I did respond to my own hunger and satisfaction feelings.

I also included some notes in brackets “[]” below to give some insight into how I was feeling.

7–9am coffee, no cream or sugar, usually 1, maybe 2 cups.

[When I started 16:8 I was hungry in the morning around 9–10am. At that time, I took a little more coffee and it helped me feel better. The hunger soon passed but if you’re new to it, there is definitely a break in period.]

10:30am — 4 mile walk — Finished in about an hour.

12pm Meal — breaking fast — 450 Cal
1 cup of Rolled Oats with 2 cups of water
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup of blueberries
1/4 cup Kirkland Ancient Grains Granola*

[The Granola here is a little outside my profile with some added sugar. What can I say, nobody’s perfect, I just enjoyed it!]

3pm Meal — 450 Cal
Natural Peanut butter Sandwich on Dave’s Whole Grain bread.

4pm Snack — 0 Cal
Cup of coffee with a spash of 1/2 and 1/2.

5pm Workout — One of the following usually on Mon-Wed-Fri
Workout A
3 sets Barbell Deadlift
4 sets Pull Ups
3 sets of 2–3 Accessory exercises

Workout B
3 sets Dumbbell or Barbell Incline Bench Press
4 sets BOSU Dome Up Push Ups
3 sets of 2–3 Accessory exercises

Workout C
3 sets Barbell Front Squat
4 sets BOSU Dome up Squats
3 sets of 2–3 Accessory exercises

6pm Post-Workout — 150 Cal
Vegetable Protein Shake (Sometimes whey protein)

7pm Meal — 900 Cal
10 oz grilled chicken (boneless and skinless)
1 cup Brown Rice
1/2 cup black beans
1/4 cup shredded cheese
2 cups broccoli
2 cups salad greens (small amount dressing)

8pm Snack — 200 Cal
Kirkland Protein Bar

A day like this one has about 2150 calories, all on my 16:8 schedule with eating from 12–8pm. Macro breakdown for this sample day is approximately:
• 180g Protein (33%)
• 245g Carbs (46%)
• 50g Fat (21%)

I also mentioned that I had gone vegetarian on some days. Some of my go-to meals for meatless dinner were…

• Whole wheat pasta with Tomato sauce with sautéed Eggplant and Garlic in olive oil
• Red Lentil Linguine with sautéed Eggplant, onions and peppers (recipe on the box from Costco)
• Whole wheat pasta with Cannellini beans and broccoli

Special Occasions
During the 16 weeks I had pizza for dinner about 4 times, but never more than once per week. I also had 3 birthday parties and enjoyed the cake, ice cream, brownies and other festivities! About 3 or 4 times I had Cheeseburgers cooked on the grill, and sweet potato fries. Most of the time I did not have more than one special occasion a week. But I did have them, enjoyed them, put them in their place and then got right back to work the next day.

Results and Summary

Overall, I‘m happy with my results, progress and how I feel. I’ve started to rebuild my strength even at the lower body weight, although I still have more to do. My shoulders feel better and I also dropped the body fat that I wanted to.

Measurements are below but from here, I’m planning to:

1. Continue with my lifestyle and intermittent fasting using 16:8.
2. Focus on my strength training to get fully back to levels prior to starting.
3. Continue walking to support cardiovascular health.
4. Increase may caloric intake. The higher caloric level will support strength development and I’ll need to replace the calories I burn from my training. I’ll be eating to support my training. Not dieting and exercising.
5. Continue with stabilization exercises..

I hope you find this information helpful, as you contemplate ways to improve your own health and strength. If you like the story, please give it a clap and follow me ... Thank you and be well!

Measurements

Incline Bench Press — Baseline 225lbs x 3 Reps
Current: 195lbs x 3 Reps

Deadlift — Baseline 330lbs x 3 Reps
Current: 305lbs x 3 Reps

Front Squat — Baseline 225lbs x 3 Reps
Current: 200lbs x 3 Reps

Body Weight — Baseline: 184lbs
Current: 163lbs

Body Fat — Baseline: 17%
Current: 10%

At my lowest my body fat reading was 9.4% on the reader. Although Bioelectrical Impedance has an error threshold, I believe these figures are directionally correct.

Waist Circumference
Prior: 36” just below umbilical
Current: 33” just below umbilical

Shoulder mobility
Overall this has improved and the pain is much less. I was unable to throw a ball properly, I can now throw pain free.

Cardiovascular Endurance
Start: 3.50 miles in 52 min (15:00/mile pace, Avg HR 102 bpm)
End: 4.25 miles in 62 min (14:30/mile pace, Avg HR 95 bpm)
Walking is faster now at a lower heart rate showing adaptation.

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ— This story represents my own training and eating that I used to help me achieve my own personal goals. The methods used in this plan are not appropriate for everyone. Before following any of these guidelines, ensure you (1) are at least 18 years or older and (2) that you are healthy and able and without any medical conditions. If you have any questions or doubts, then please first obtain clearance from your doctor.