Random Tips of the Week: Desk Jobs and Fat Loss Methods

Sometimes I have some cool things to talk about, but they wouldn’t justify a whole blog post. That is where the random tips posts come in. I am not going to go too in depth on these, just some thoughts on diet, nutrition, training, and rehab.

1. If You Work a Desk Job, Do 2:1 Pull to Press.

This one should be pretty obvious. A large majority of people today have desk jobs, and for the guys, still tend to do too much horizontal pressing. You know the whole “Bench Monday” thing? And this is not just a postural thing. Many people wonder why their bench never goes up while their back and lats are proportionally weak compared to their chest. So, maybe do your barbell bench in the beginning, but throw in two row variations later on in the workout. Push ups are great too as it promotes scapular retraction and you can do some many progressions (coming up on Monday I will have an article on it). You can even super set the BB bench with a 1-arm DB row or a facepull. BONUS: A little thoracic mobility work wouldn’t hurt either.

2. Fat Loss: Train More to Eat More? Or Train Less, But Eat Less?

I don’t think we discuss this subject enough. Yeah, you have heard that, “you can’t out train a bad diet” a thousand times, but what about what is optimal for fat loss? A program where you are lifting 3-4 days a week with high intensity interval training along with a calorie deficit around 3500 cals/week? What about a 3-day full body program with some steady state walking on off days and a 7,000-8,000 Calorie deficit? Would we be able to retain most if not all of our muscle mass?

Do we have the answer? Has it been researched? Personally, I think it depends:

• How quickly do you want to lose weight?
• How important is it to train at a high intensity when it comes to your enjoyment?
• How much time do you have to dedicate to training each week?
• What have you done in the past and has it worked?

It is just a case of different strokes for different folks. Both will work if you have the calories, workout nutrition, macronutrient partitioning, and training down. Does one work better all things equal? In my experience with clients and personally, I would go with the lower calories, 3 day lift, and some steady state work on off days if they have their nutrition locked in. BUT!!! Remember, it does depend on their goals. I am just talking about looking good naked. Not deadlifting 400 pounds, or doing 40 pull ups, or having a 30 inch vert, or the ability to run a 6-minute mile.

Some of my clients just don’t want to eat protein at every meal and count calories. For them I take a little harder approach with the lifting and conditioning because I know they are fueling themselves to recover from it. For some of my male clients at least I can promise that they will put some muscle mass on and drop some bodyfat, it is just going to be a little slower.

I understand that everyone has their own different training and body composition philosophies. There is more than one ways to skin a cat, I guess I think we need to evaluate our clients and ourselves to determine which method will garner the best results.