Not likely. Usually the first areas to accumulate fat are the most stubborn to burn up. There are exceptions to this rule...but that is how it works most of the time.

TIP OF THE DAY:

Hitting the gym twice a day (once for strength training and once for cardio and a secondary muscle group) has been shown to increase ATP production by nearly 400% which is a 2x exponential gain compared to 1 workout spread over 2 days. This means, that if you workout twice a day, you can expect to see HIGHLY exponential gains of muscle and losses of fat, while increasing positive effects on your body (such as good mood and satisfaction) compared to working out once per day.

WARNING - DO NOT OVERTRAIN. 1.5 HOURS FOR EACH WORKOUT IS PLENTY - DO NOT EXCEED THIS TIME. ALSO DO NOT WORK THE SAME MUSCLE GROUP MORE THAN 2X PER WEEK.

A good sample is:

Mon -

Chest 1.5 hours (11am)
Abs and Cardio 1 hour (7pm)

what about those full body workouts that involve hitting the major muscle groups 3x per week? overtraining? does it depend on if your body can use this type of program?

Is working your abs every workout considered over training? I always end my workouts with abs/core training.

Also, I've been doing yoga/pilates after my workout lately, should I take my protein shake after my workout and before yoga, or after yoga? Thanks.

I would never recommend someone doing a full body workout 3x a week...or at all for that matter. The point of full body workouts would suffice for fitness models, the elderly, and very young adolescents. But for young men, the best idea is to do splits or 1 major group per day.

Doing full body workouts even twice a week can lead to overtraining (and undertraining).

In order to work a major muscle group properly - roughly 15-25 sets are required. If you were to do that with all muscle groups...you are looking at a 6 hour workout more or less. If you spent 6 hours at the gym in one outing...you would certainly lead to massive overtraining. If you only did lets say...5 sets for each major muscle group...you are underworking yourself...even if you do it every other day.

Fitness models will benefit from this type of training because it blitzes fat...and tones existing muscles...not for men looking to put on size, shape, and shred.

Hey there -

I'd reccomend not hitting the abs more than 3-4 times a week...all muscle groups need time to rest...depends on your genetics though. Some people require every-other-day ab routines...others need once a week...depends on you...but every single day would be pushing it.

As far as protein shake timing...take the shake BEFORE yoga/pilates....wait about 10-15 mins, then begin.

I normally lift for 1 hour and then run for 30 minutes after that. It takes about 15 minutes to get home and sometimes I don't even get back until 2 hours after I started lifting. Is this too long to go after lifting without getting protein?

what about for athletes? say one day i do an explosive olympic lift (snatch, clean, jerk), a major lower body exercise (squat, step-up, front-squat, leg press etc.), a major upper body exercise (bench or back variation) + auxillary lifts like curls, shoulder press, leg curls, leg extension, abs, etc...would that work?..like every monday, wednesday, friday i would pick one lift from each categorie and do that, then i would do the various other lifts on those days as well...like 2 days a week focus auxillary lifts on legs and one day on upper body, then the next week switch?

its worked good for me in the past, but idk how long the results would last on it since i switch my program up every 2-3 months

edit: when i do it that way ii switch the set-rep scheme during the 2-3 months

This post was edited by bnrhodes2 on Feb 4 2009 05:10pm

30 minutes after completion of a workout is the goal zone to get protein in your body.

Depends on what kind of athlete you are talking about.

Baseball, football, soccer, hockey, swimming, tennis, golf, lacross, volleyball, bodybuilding, skating, running, etc etc etc - all require different workouts.

If you want to do an olympic lift routine...there is a very calculated way to go about it.

I still stand by my previous statement that full body work as you mention is only beneficial for muscle maintenance, toning, fat loss, etc.

For all around strength, ROM (range of motion), muscle gain, flexibility, and endurance...the method to lift should always be in the form of splits or singles.

UNLESS you are practicing for specific exercises or lifts for a PT test or competition of some sort (like the Olympics or the Arnold classic).

if you are seeing good results doing what are you doing, feel free to keep it up - however, I guarentee you will see better results with a more comprehensive and strategic plan.