fat loss but not strength...

[barbell265]

Evnin all, I have a question regarding fat loss. I know to reduce my fat I need to get beneath my maint. level BMR; increase my cardio,(right now I have a weak cardio program as I am going for strength), lower my carbs and do more ripping vs bulking. My concern is loosing strength. Can I diet and shredd down to 6-8% BF and keep my strength? I just achieved a personal goal and benched 300 flat today and I don't want to sink back beneath it.

Any comments??

 

[Necromaster]

what are your priorties? keeping your bulk and strength or losing your fat?

It isnt posible getting %6 and keeping up your strength, it is posible getting %8 though it just takes time and dedication.

My suggestions is you can always gain your strength and muscle size back easier because of muscle memory. Diet down and you can gain it back later without putting all the fat back on very fast infact and I am sure you will beable to surpass 300 lbs in the future. Its hard to lift heavy being leaner. The bulk helps.

 

[MS]

Yeah, us chicks prefer a hard body to a strong body. I'm sick of looking at stay puff marshmallow guys racking up huge weights and thinking they're god's gift......

 

[vitor97]

Im

Im 10lbs Lighter and I think Im stronger, Im eating 1.5 grams to 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. I easily bench 405, and all of my lifts are the same, maybe just alittle less. Are you a power Lifter? IF so then this is a problem but if ur just some guy and are like wow I benched 300lbs who cares. It isnt what you bench, its how you look. What is your goal. Strength doesnt really do anything for you if ur trying to get with ladies. If your a powerlifter, COP, or do a job where strength matters then YES. BUT GET REAL, 300lbs or 275 what is the diffrience it still looks cool. In my mind if you bench more then your bodyweight you are doing good. Im 208 Very lean and I bench a ton, but one day u might see me benching 135 for 25reps. WHen I first started it was all about benching heavy, but Flat bench doesnt build a great chest like Incline, and if you goal is a good chest stick to a moderate weight with moderate reps. If you want to just get stronger, Do 6 sets of 3-5reps and your bench will go up it is up to you.

 

[Necromaster]

Don't do it to get girls. Do it for yourself. If you are in the gym just for the girls. In my opinion, I think thats a waste of time because you need to be there for yourself not for someone else. I see alot of out of shape guys(skinny or a little overweight) with some beautiful girls.

 

[Vageta]

You shouldn't train stictly for looks or for strength, do it for both. And definately don't do it for the girls as that's a bad reason. When it comes time and you settle down with one of them then what will be your motivator? Do it for yourself and no one else.

Also losing weight in general doesn't mean a strength loss. However when you diet without AS you will eventually lose muscle mass no matter how spot on your diet is. This will of course lead to strength loss. Also you will hold less glycogen in your muscles while in a hypocaloric state so that will cause you to have less strength as well.

I would suggest training for strength while dieting so even though you may lose some muscle mass, your CNS adaption should be able to help you keep the strength. Then when your diet is over you will be able to use the same weights with less muscle mass and it will help you to add muscle next time you bulk. I'd say increase your weights and sets, but decrease rep range. If you normally train with 12 reps or so, then drop it to 6 reps and up your weight to something you can't do more than 7 or so reps with. This will target your CNS and if you've never trained this way before you will likely get some strength gains from it.

 

[barbell265]

thanks..

Thanks for all the feed back, it's appreciated. So you all know, I am 31,(32 in june), married to a beautiful woman with a 3 y/o little girl. My training routine just changed last week. I went from a pyramid program, up weight down reps, to a gross poundage program, more reps,(3-5), more sets,(4-7), per muscle group and lower weight; all this in an effort to increase mass and strength. My goal is to be the guy the women stare at with a smile and the guys say,"geeez look at those pipes!", I guess you could say I'm a bit of an egomaniac, but, aren't we all?!?!

Thanks again...

Barbell265...