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sgrinavi
10-28-2002, 12:17 PM
Anybody have similar experience?
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TIPS FROM REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE
by Oswald Verlinden

This report was written on July 11 2002, I wanted to wait some more time to observe the future before sending the tips. In the end I write additional comments dated 25 September 2002.

11 July 2002

Hi,

My name is Oswald Verlinden, 30 years old and I'm a fitness enthousiast from Belgium. I think I might have a very valuable tip, where I see many recreational bodybuilders and fitness minded people go wrong.

I'm the kind of person who constantly watched his diet all year round, like many of us, without even being close to lean. I wasn't really fat, but I sure as hell wasn't lean either, somewhere around 16-17%. I also had the disadvantage to have started bodybuilding in the late 80s, begin 90s, right in the "lets get crazy super high 10.000 calories a day" era. (Yes, I'm already training for 12 years now...) This had made me pretty fat as an adolescent, which I felt made it even more difficult in staying lean nowadays, because the fat that had once been there, came back easily.

I always trained very intense with weights for about 4 to 5 sessions per week, consisting about an hour each. I watched my fat intake, but most of all, I limited my carbs for years. ( 150/200g per day ) Something very popular nowadays. So until 4 months ago, I practiced intense bodybuilding, watched my nutritional program, eating 'clean' foods, full year round. That should get me in the success lane, right? Wrong.

I felt that in the long run, my body was more catabolic than anabolic. My muscles felt flat most times, I wasn't vascular. And looking afterwards, I'm definitely not surprised. I was constantly in a battle trying to - get lean - build muscle - don't get fat - get lean - build muscle - don't get fat......I noticed that nowadays most people are finding themselves in the same situation as I did.

To some degree I became very carb-conscious, maybe even carb-phobic and not only did it destroy much of my bodybuilding success, but also did it take away a lot of the joy of life. Are you guys aware of what happens when you are going out shopping with your girlfriend for a few hours and forgot to take some 'clean' food along. While your girlfriend is enjoying a tasty sandwich in the run, you are desperately seeking for a shop where you can purchase some cottage cheese or a low-carb protein bar. Come on!!!

Now for years I've read that doing frequent and/or very intense cardio is a sure roadblock to building musle mass. "Say no to cardio!"

Now I experienced that intense cardio is way more important towards success than maybe we want it to be. In January 2002 I started a very succesfull diet and by the end of march, I was around 7% body fat. I used cardio as a side tool in achieving so. BUT THIS IS NOT THE TIP!!!

Here comes the tip. After I became extremely lean ( 5' 9" - 186 pounds - 7% fat), I decided to continue doing my intense cardio in trying to stay lean while building muscle at the same time. And boy oh boy, the results were far better than I could have ever dreamed of.

I slightly upped my calories and carbs every day after the strict diet period. Every day I was afraid of losing my lean condition, because I was eating more. But the mirror surprised me every morning showing me still in great shape. I even dared to say yes to an occasional ice-cream, some cookies, pizza or fries. Now for more than 2 months already, I'm eating BIG TIME without getting even slightly fat!!!

For the biggest part, I still eat clean foods, but I enjoy a far more normal life than I used to. I easily eat up to 400 - 500 g carbs per day, with lots of protein. I still try to eat avoid high glycemic and/or fatty foods, but I noticed that even with them, it won't make me fat. Eating ice-cream, pancakes, pizza, fries, cookies, hamburgers, .... didn't even hurt my lean physique, but still I will only eat them as joy, not as a regular part of my diet. This big eating habit has given me the advantage of being more in an anabolic state, outweighing the possible catabolic effect from intense cardio. The abundance of nutrients that my body receives now, can be used to create a very positive environment for building muscle. I always have a huge pump now during my sessions and even during the day, so my muscles feel full and strong most of the time. I also got way more vascular than before.

Right now my weight has upped to 190 pounds and I'm still as lean. So there must be someting right about doing the right cardio work!!! Actually I look much leaner and feel much healthier and energetic.

What do I mean with intense cardio? Well, I don't know where the future will bring me, I still have to experiment with that, but I can only tell you what I do right now. For me, cardio is running. Maybe I'm blessed, but I enjoy running very much and I'm pretty good at it.

day 1 : 5 times an intense run of 600 meters, 2 minutes rest in between. (For me it's 5 times : 1 minute 50 seconds per 600 meters)

day 2 : 3000 meters without rest
( I finish in about 10 minutes, so that's pretty intense! )

day 3 : recuperation : 6000 meters at a slower pace
( I finish it in about 23 minutes )

day 4 : rest

day 5 : back to day 1

So if you paid attention, my cardio work is pretty short but intense. I really don't believe in what almost everybody is doing, slow and long. Cardio is about making you a better athlete, not just burning calories!!!! I believe the real advantage isn't in the calorie-burning effect during exercise but in your resulting higher VO2Max levels (taking you in a higher metabolism), which does not increase by slow-go cardio.

So, summary tips :

1) use intense cardio to stay lean and be able to eat big time for muscle growth without getting fat.

2) get lean - below 10% - to be able to observe your progress. I believe that many people get the wrong impression about their metabolism, because they cannot measure their progress very well with a higher body fat %. Look, if I'm fat and I eat some junk that day, if I would check myself in the mirror that evening and found myself again in a fat position, I create the false illusion that I get fat if I eat some junk. If you are fat and you diet for one or two weeks, you will still be fat of course. You might even look fatter, because your muscles get flat of dieting, so actually you will look weaker and fatter, even if you lost some fat. So you could create the illusion that even on a diet you get fat!!!

Well, I noticed that because of this, people, including myself, create the false impression that they have bad metabolism, when in reality it's not. I found myself eating 150/200g carbs and not even reaching 2000 calories a day for long periods still in a fat shape, so I really believed that my metabolism was ultra-slow, while now I know the
opposite is true.

Now yesterday by coincidence I read a quote from Juliette Bergmann printed in a famous muscle magazine : "I don't eat any bread, pasta, potatoes or rice. I'm a bodybuilder, not a marathoner." I think that's very absurd. Tell me if I'm wrong, but by instinct I feel there is something wrong about being a "great athlete" and only eating eggs,
meats and fish with a little peace of watermelon...

Ps : I have never used anabolic steriods (maybe not important, but just as side info)

25 September 2002

I'm already in great shape for 6 months now. And I've again learned a valuable lesson.

First of all, the kind of training outlined in the previous report, had really put me in a state where I could litterally absorb any food without getting fat. If you don't believe me, I invite you all to come down to Belgium and live with me for a week. It's unbelieveable, but it's true. I can eat anything without regret. And I mean anything!!!!!

I personally feel that the intense running makes my body enourmesly sensitive to insulin, creating an environment where every gram of carb and fat is shuttled into my muscles and not my fat cells, this explains also the fact that I always have a huge pump during my weight workout. On top of that I probably enjoy very fast metabolism now. I must honestly say that I got trapped into bad eating during summer.

To give you guys a clue :
Eating in total 2 large breads (each 600grams) with jam or chocolat paste each day as snacks in between. Pizza as dessert after breakfast. Big bags of potato chips during late night movies in bed. Fries, ice cream party's, hamburgers, ... I ate it all (and enjoyed it all!)

I was really out of control, maybe because of the frustration of being restricted for years? I didn't even eat any vegetables or fruit anymore... And I wasn't punished for it, every morning I would wake up still with my six-pack around, so why in God's name should I avoid those foods? For my health of course. So in the meantime, I've substituted much of the bad things for good things, but the main point is that my life is normal now. If my girlfriend wants ice cream after dinner that day, I will join her. If we are out shopping and she wants to grab a burger, I will join her. If we are watching a scary movie at night and I feel like a tasty bag of potato chips, I will go for it! But I will do it in moderation now and fill up my big diet with more healthy foods. But still I will continue to eat much, around 4000 - 5000 calories a day.

Now comes the new tip :
Slow cardio or even medium cardio doesn't work. After I felt I was in such a great shape from all the running in the previous months, I decided to participate in a running contest. The route was 3000 meters and I ran against running competitors (members of athletics) who had been practising running for years now and weighing much less in bodyweight than me. In the starting group of 55 competitors I placed 6th in 9 minutes 28
seconds, really giving it all. I was really exhausted after that run, I gave my best.
But it proved to me that my training had made me a great runner, even though I was a lot heavier than normal runners. After this race some coaches approached me and gave me some
running advice to even better my outstanding results. I had to run longer distances in my training, at a slower aerobic pace. So I did.

I ran 12.000 to 15.000 meters a day at a comfortable pace. (aerobic zone : 70 - 80% of maximal heartbeat) It would take me an hour every day. And do you know what happened?
I got fatter!!!!!!!!!!!! And to make things worse, I lost weight, felt flat and tired all the time, resulting in skipping bodybuilding workouts. Don't ask me why I got fatter, normally I should have burned up 5 times more calories on that long run than on that intense 10 minute run.

This is where I decided that running should be a tool for me to be a great bodybuilder, but I should use the type of running that puts me in the right state as a bodybuilder, not as a runner. So I brought my cardio back to short and intense...result was that I came back in great shape with lots of energy. I'm not saying that the advice of the coaches were wrong, they were probably right, but it would make me a typical runner
and not a lean bodybuilder.

Last tip
Don't use cardio exclusively while trying to get ripped. I tried this, it doesn't work.
You won't get ripped alone from running, use it as a side tool along with a calorie-restricted diet. The real benefit of doing intense cardio stands in STAYING ripped once
achieved, while eating big trying to build muscle.

I hope my experiences will benefit some athletes,
Oswald

TAZ
10-28-2002, 01:27 PM
I am a firm beliver in short bursts of intence Cardio. It's the only way I can get lean (See my pics). I lost almost 80lbs in about 6 months. I am pretty lean now, leaner than when i took those pics but my caloric intake has almost doubled in the last 2 months.
-TAZ

LA
10-28-2002, 02:18 PM
To each his own. Tried short intense cardio sessions with a good dose of gear while cutting and lost too much muscle. Went back to long and boring sessions and had success.

Try both ways, find which ways works for you!

Badgermoon
10-28-2002, 02:24 PM
Very interesting. Brings up a question though. I don't think my body can stand the pounding that running would give. I used to run track in high school, but now my knees are a bit worn, and I've had a real problem with pain in my achillies tendon for about 4 years to the point that I have a noticeable limp in my walk most of the time. I have recently started to do some light calf work, just to see how it responds. It helps to be on Decca, but it still hurts. Would I be better off to ride an exercise bike? I'd hate to rupture the tendon....

DADDY48
10-28-2002, 04:03 PM
EXERCISE BIKE AND THE ELIPTICAL ARE TWO GOOD OPTIONS FOR CARDIO, VERY LOW IMPACT ON THE JOINTS

WeirdAl
10-28-2002, 08:43 PM
I like the eliptical cross trainer for my intense cardio.

WeirdAl
10-28-2002, 08:49 PM
Oh, and I went from 285lbs to 175lbs doing intense cardio (body for life) in 36 weeks. Have dropped my cardio in getting back up to 205 or so (1 year later), and have kept the cardio out in dropping to ~190. But I agree intense but short cardio is the way to go. I personally think that the best bang for the buck, and it will kick almost anyones ass, only takes 10 minutes after a 2 minute warmup. After your warmup, alternate sprinting and jogging/walking for 15 seconds per. You can do the same thing on the bike/eliptical, but this is one thing I think is better on the track/grass.

Badgermoon
10-28-2002, 09:35 PM
Thanks. I'll try some cardio on a bike as the running is out of the question for me. I think I'll do just once or maybe twice a week. Not sure if that would be enough, but I don't want to hinder my weight gain either.