Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

I’m a 40-yr-old male, 6′3″ tall, 280lbs.  My goal is to lose the body fat, then add lean muscle mass.  I think I’m currently at a BMI of 31-35%.  If I am in a state of reduced calories, should I reduce the intensity of my weight resistance training to avoid overtraining?  How would I do this? Would it be better to focus on losing the max amount of body fat first, then muscle gain?

All my answers are based on what I would do if I were you…

Train at a robust 80% capacity with a fair pace and moderate weights. Your intention is to encourage the muscles to grow as you learn — understand — the various dimensions of training. Here’s where your intuition and common sense and observation come into play. We apply a lot of empirical guesswork.

Same with food intake: protein for muscle growth, carbs and fats for their energy contributions and much more. Remember water and fresh produce. Perfect musclebuilding meal replacement: Bomber Blend protein.

Your main object is to build muscle and might. Anyone can lose fat — stop eating. Go for a two-for approach, a combination of both, with confidence and determination and persistence. Watch the scale a little and depend on your general feelings, snugness here, looseness there.

There are the ups and downs, mind and body. Don’t freak. Trust your efforts and put in your time. This method allows for good energy and muscle growth with consistent fat loss, not just fat loss and lower productivity and well-being.

Hope you gain lots of muscle and lose lots of fat and never give up the good fight…
Godspeed…Dave

Long story short, I have been dieting for the past 10 weeks and it was going great! I was actually seeing my abdominal muscles clearly for the first time ever. Veins were showing everywhere and I actually look bigger! So anyway, I put myself into a bad situation at a BBQ this weekend. I think you know where this is going. It all started with one little cheeseburger and my mind thinking of every little excuse to try and justify why I should cheat for one single meal after the past 10 weeks of clean eating, cardio and heavy training. All downhill from there…. Can you help me get back on track?

I suspect having written down all your manners of screwing up has been a relief — sorta like a confession — and you’ve learned a big lesson: Never Again.

We all do this, more or less, on occasion and we pay the price: cuss ourselves, doubt ourselves, grumble and eventually recover stronger than ever by putting in the time at the gym and away from the refrigerator and cookie jar. Live ‘n Learn, as they say…

Do some jogs and sprints on your off days. Don’t flog yourself. Don’t lose muscle or joy by losing too much weight too fast or expecting too much too soon. Carry on the good fight with all your might… and new found wisdom.

Go… Godspeed… DD

I’m nearing 40, a fit at 5′4″ female, 120 pounds. I want to lose three inches off my waist. I run, spin cycle and do boot camp workouts, plus some free weight training. Can you help?

It’s hard to see how you’d have three inches to take off your waist unless you’re pretty light on muscle tissue. Would you consider dropping some of the cardio energy expenditure in favor of building up the back and shoulders? Sometimes the taper works better than the tape measure.

You sound like you’re doing all you can without sacrificing your health and excessively expending the precious time you have to appreciate and enjoy your achieved fitness. Any more exercise and attention to exercise and we have obsession, any less bodyweight and we have undernourishment.

I understand the drive and need and the engagement of the pursuit (hello, nutso bodybuilder), and also know the waste and recklessness and illusions of too much exercise and too much dieting. Too much is too much. It wears you down and out. Beware and be aware, Miss.

As long as you’re getting 100 grams of protein a day and eating sufficient carbs from lots of fresh salads and some fresh fruit, and hydrating and resting and relaxing like a good girl should, you’ll be fine.

Lift, live, learn and be lean… Godspeed… Dave

I’m a 46 yr young female who works out 5-6 days a week doing weight training and cardio. I’ve come a long way in three years, but have just had a major setback: I quit smoking and have gained 10lbs, and over 3 ” in my waist.  I am 5′ tall and it shows so much on me and i hate feeling it.  I have a very slow metabolism to begin with and it took me almost 2 years to just lose ten pounds.  I never stopped my healthy eating habits. Due to having radiation treatments when I was younger,  my metabolism is extremely slow and I have to do twice as much as a normal type woman. Can you please offer any suggestions on how to jumpstart myself and get rid of this weight? 

Big Congrats on quitting the ugly monster habit. You’re tough. You’re  wise. You’re free.

I feel for you. You’ve gotta work this out. It might be a hormonal thing, or particularly ‘female,’ so I copped out and passed the note to Laree.

Are you eating too much?

Drinking lots of water?

Try HIIT cardio for a change… read Laree’s post at this link on interval cardio training.

Fish oil has been known to help… It’s not magic but worth the try.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

I’m trying to get down to 210-215 and I weigh 245 now. I have been training fairly heavy (for me at 52), but take it down a notch every second workout. Should I try circuit training?  I trust your advice and I will follow it to the letter.

You want to drop 30 pounds. There’s no way you can do this without sensible dietary, training and attitude changes and time and commitment. Sounds scary, but it’s not. Dropping the bodyweight, which is substantial, at age 52, which isn’t exactly young, also means losing overall size, muscle mass and power. But for the fat loss (darn blubber), these can be reluctant sacrifices. Be ready to accept them.

You’ll need to review your training and prepare to train hard, amp the pace and include supersets, putting less emphasis on power and more on form and focus and exercise execution. Consider aerobic activity — stationary bike — on off days, or whenever.

The diet is simple, but important, and must be applied unwaveringly.

I find a 50/25/25 balance in protein, value-high carbs and fats the best for the conditioning musclebuilder.

Smaller meals (5 or 6 feedings) more frequently from breakfast till evening meal with lots of water, sound and basic supplementation. Lean red meats, poultry and fish are the key lean muscle builders. Lots of raw vegetables and just enough fruit serve the body’s health and performance and EFAs, and non-greasy fats add to body energy and function.

Very basically, your training intensity plus your ingestion quality and quantity determines the rate of incline or decline in your weight and muscle-fat ratio. You and your instincts and commonsense and determination are in control. You do the managing of the above fundamentals. This takes trial and attention and pursuit, the individual musclebuilder’s game. Have fun.

Oh, yeah. Be good, get plenty of rest, drink Bomber Blend, take your Super Spectrim vitamin/mineral, and consider Ageless Growth Formula. These comprise my basic supplementation needs.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

I’m having a terrible time with my diet. Sometimes I eat all of the wrong things and then I force myself to work out harder. I love to eat and I’m a very good cook, but I hate being fat. The older I get, the harder it is to lose the weight.

Unless you have a disease, a legitimate eating disorder (hormones, glands, intestinal), there’s no problem here. Being lodged under a 16-wheeler is a problem; the love of your life walked out on you is a problem; lymphoma is a problem.

Training is hard work… takes commitment, time and energy and endurance and know-how and equipment.

Eating right is simply eating right: No big skill, talent, knowledge, effort or mystery. Hand-holding is for kids and the lost.

You need to meditate on self-discipline, personal responsibility and self-respect. Reread that one: What you ingest can be controlled by you, unless you live in a village in Nigeria or Somalia or Ecuador.

I’m sure you have a weight goal in mind and can apply visualizing, imagining, practices. Start today, now… not tomorrow. Small hint: high protein (fish, poultry, then meat and eggs, less dairy), low fat and low carbs of the good variety.

50/25/25 balance.

Git goin… DD… Godspeed.

If you are planning to pyramid your weights, should you start at your heaviest weight and go up from there or pyramid lower building up to your heaviest?  Also I do squats, lunges, deads, good mornings and weighted leg lifts or romanian chair leg lifts for legs but am still not getting the definition like I have on my upper body.  Should I do more sets? As a female, what else can I do to get this area in to some form of shape?

I start with the lighter weight of which I can do a hardy 12 to 15 reps. This set prepares me for the heavier sets to follow: warm-up, find the groove, excite and focus my mind. I proceed from there increasing the weight sufficiently to follow a 10, 8, 6, 4 rep pyramid. Love it… do it on most exercises.

Train, train, train. Experiment with the higher sets (4) and reps (12-15, try 20s) with attention on form, pace and effort and less on achieving heavier weight or more strength. Walking lunges with dumbbells in hand… cool and healthy shapers. Run sprints…

Eat right… there’s the hardest one for many. Most effective part, though.

Thanks… dd

Is there a maximum time I should work out?  Up to now my workouts have varied between one and one and a half hours  - about 45 minutes lifting weights and another 45 or so doing stretching and flexibility exercises like Yoga postures.  I’m wondering if this may be too long. Also, for the last few weeks I don’t appear to be losing any weight, despite dropping my calorie intake to around 1800 calories a day.  Am I doing something wrong?

An hour a day, five or six days a week is ideal for most.

You might alternate your two 45-minute programs.

Be consistent, focused, determined, sensibly intense and high-spirited. Life’s great investment.

The first pounds of weight loss are the least difficult. You are now encountering the second pounds, a more stubborn group. Fight the good fight.

Chances are your muscle development is becoming evident at the scale. Muscle is heavier than fat weight. Fat pounds might very well be continuing on the decline as muscle weight is on the rise.

dd

I am 22 years old and I am from Sydney, Australia. I was 100kg two months ago; now I have dropped to 83kg through changing what I eat and exercising smart. When you have lost weight, how do you mentally keep up the consistency?

I don’t suppose I did it much differently than you are doing it now. When you want a thing badly enough and it’s worthy, and it’s realistically within your range, you just keep going in its general direction.

Each day you adjust to the pursuit, justifying, accessing and appreciating your labor. Some days go well, some days do not go well, but no days go badly.

You lift, live, learn and grow. Giving up is not an option, not if the goal is good, the purpose right, the work productive and the journey well-traveled and enjoyed.

Remember, achieving muscle and might are only a part of what you’re gaining along the way. You’re investing in your personal riches, and they extend to those around you.

Be strong and courageous and happy… Godspeed… Dave

I attempted the tuna and water diet last week for three days with some success, but how long ideally should one continue this, and secondly how often is best for it to be done?

I do the tuna and water periodically just to clean up my act. A day a month for me is plenty.

Once you’re secure in your disciplines, you can broaden the diet to include poultry or eggs or lean red meat and certainly raw vegetables in salads. The “T +W only” diet is to establish diet disciplines as well as undercut the calorie intake while supporting the musclebuilding protein intake.

Wing it as you become familiar with it. It’s a great diet platform or starting block to return to for occasional tune-ups or re-tracking.

If you’d like to read how others handle it, here’s a long forum discussion on the pros and cons of tuna and water dieting.
Have fun, train always, eat smart… Grow ye not gills… DD

I’ve cut my food intake down to 2,500 calories in order to lose fat. I lift five days per week concentrating on two body parts per workout. I cardio 30 minutes before breakfast and 30 minutes after my workout. I have lost 6 pounds in two weeks and I decreased my body fat by 1%. The problem is that I lost a little bit of LBM in the process. Can you make any suggestions on what I might be doing wrong? I am thinking that I am doing too much cardio, but how much is too much?

From over here it looks like you’re doing nothing wrong and the diet’s working fine. Only a total beginner will be able to offset muscle loss with muscle gains during a weight-loss phase.

Everyone else will lose a little muscle, especially at three pounds lost in a week, two weeks in a row. You’ll be able to gain that back, don’t worry. But if you want to limit the LBM loss, dial back the diet a little — take a little longer to lose the weight, ie slow it down to 1-2 pounds a week instead of 3.

That’s a lot of cardio. As you experiment along the way, try hitting the cardio for 30 minutes with a tad more intensity once a day.

You’re in motion and your efforts sound balanced and wise.  You’re still way into the healthy range.

Try supersetting here and there, adding a pinch more (time — exertion) to the weight training/musclebuilding effort.

Who knows… we’re all different and changing… you’re zeroing in as we speak.
Go… Godspeed… Dave

I am a huge fan and am now reading Your Body Revival. I’ve been lifting off and on since age 10.  I’m 37 now and weigh 300 lbs. My bodyfat varies between 26-30%. I dream about getting below 15%. I was surprised by the level of dairy and eggs used in your sample menu in the book. Have you changed your diet any with regards to your milk and egg intake since Your Body Revival was written?

Thanks for reading and writing.

My menu has the same ingredients, only I eat less; I’m older, lighter, more moderate training, not fantasizing about packing on muscle.

Even after the bypass18 months ago, no change was suggested. My cholesterol and triglycerides are okay.

We’re all different — chemistry, weak links, strengths.

Juggling your menu to suit your training, your goals, your health and your lifestyle and disciplines takes time and patience and attention. I’ favor high protein, low to medium worthy carbs and non-greasy fats. Go poultry and fish, lots of fresh salad vegetables and enough fruit. Clean and safe for most everybody… little low fat cottage cheese, some lean red meat here and there, low salt, more water.

Try Bomber Blend as meal replacement or meal convenience or pure healthy musclebuilding pleasure.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

Could you give some tips or advice on losing the so called love handles? This is what I need help on.

Eat right — that’s the big factor here — train hard, don’t exercise specifically to muscularize the area.

Depend on overall training and muscle growth and stimulation to do the trick — reducing bulk and toning and strengthening.

Add sufficient aerobics — walking and wind sprints and cycling.

Sorry there’s no magic. This one’s in the diet.

dd

I need a program that I can do at home with my barbell and no spotters. I also ask that since you are so pro tuna and water, is there any way to make it taste a bit better (lemon seasoning, anything) as I am not a tuna fan and I have a hundred pounds to lose.

Walk a lot and consistently, distance, uphill and up stairs with a deliberate training mentality — Great conditioner.

You can curl the bar, press the bar over head, clean the bar to your shoulders, deadlift the bar, perform bent-over rows with the bar, practice triceps extensions with the bar, do light squats and good mornings and partial walking lunges with the bar.

Mix tuna or chicken in salads as you like. Eat a high protein, medium fat (no grease) and low carb diet (wholesome carbs, no junk) often, yet in smaller portions, and spread those smaller portions throughout the day for energy and muscle repair and less chance of unwanted fat storage.

Your training facilities and understanding will expand as you peruse it and will it.

Read my favorite book for weight loss, Your Body Revival. This book written by me are the best straight talk and fun experience to gain every bit of knowledge and encouragement you need to go where you want to go. Freedom from obesity, and a place of toned and vital muscle.

This is not a sale, this is the best advice I can offer, the best advice anyone can offer.

GO… Godspeed… Dave Draper

Dave, please let me know how to make sagging chest tight.

General recommendations and comments for you:

A well-balanced high-protein, junk-free diet and all exercise contributes to strengthening and muscularizing the body. Be consistent and persistent and positive in both endeavors.
The pecs tend to sag with age as muscle density diminishes and gravity bears its effects. Excessive bodyweight is also a major contributor to loose and sagging chest.

My favorite exercises that most directly shape and tone the chest muscles are cable crossovers (single or two handed), low-to-medium incline dumbbell presses and dumbbell flys and dips. Less directly I like stiffarm pullovers and widegrip pulldowns to the front.

Engage your mind to engage the muscles.

Train hard, eat right and be strong… Dave

I was wondering what time of day is best to take carbohydrates? Should they be taken during the earlier part of the day or should they be evenly spread throughout the entire day?

We’re all different and need to be sensitive to our own needs and response to exercise and fuel and tissue-building ingredients.

I’m not a big consumer of carbs (40, 30, 30 ratio) so I spread them throughout the day. We need them for all energy expenditures — chores to heavy workouts.

Complex carbs (rolled or steel-cut oats, for example) don’t convert to energy immediately, and store briefly in the bloodstream for available energy before converting to fat stores (future energy). High-glycemic carbs (some fruits and all sugary foods) are converted quickly and expended quickly (now energy), and if not expended, begin the conversion to fat.

To be specific, how you regulate your carb intake depends on you and your goals.

Overweight? Generally lower intake of low-value high-glycemics, take the majority of your carbs earlier in the day, and/or center them around your training for exercise energy and energy for muscle repair.

It’s always best to combine carbs with protein and fats for steady insulin regulation; carb-only meals tend to spike the insulin.

If you’re active, in condition and train regularly, and not an over-the-top consumer of carbs, a regular intake works well. It’s always wise to surround your workouts with sufficient protein and carbs.

For all purposes train hard, maintain high protein, quality carbs and EFAs, drink water, be consistent and smile. Eat clean, not mean — don’t get freaked out about exact time and place. Leave that madness for the pre-contest pros.

Godspeed… Dave

At age 20, I have increased my cardio and have started to get leaner.  Problem is this: I’m losing some size and energy.

When you start to lose muscle size and energy,  it’s time to modify your routine and your mindset.

I endorse training to build muscle while accepting the level of bodyfat that serves to strengthen and energize your system. The fat will go with time… slow but sure.

Try High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cardio, supersets, eat smart always… You’re young and fit, learning and growing.

Go… Dave

I’m seven weeks out from an upcoming bodybuilding contest. Do you have any suggestions for how to retain size while cutting bodyfat?

We’re all so different and respond differently in the last critical stages of contest preparation.
Several errors are quite common among many contestants in the last weeks and days: We get nervous, stressed and doubtful and overly critical, all conditions causing mental and physical inhibition, and result in overtraining and under-nourishing. Cortisol and catabolism have a field day. Avoid these killers.

In the day, I continued to train hard and sensibly and intuitively till two weeks out, dropping bodyweight to my desired weight range by adjusting quantity of food intake (My preferred balance: 50,25,25 — protein, hi-value carbs and fats), removing most milk products.

At this point my training regimen became enthusiastic stimulation with the notion of nurturing my muscle and body with enjoyable and uplifting workouts.

Posing would become, not excessive, but more deliberate.

Visualizing positively — confident imagining — is a valuable practice.

Keep your eyes open for controllable flaws, be grateful for your wonderful development and health, appreciate your strengths.

Rest a lot, but don’t be inactive.

Here’s one for you: aerobics didn’t exist outside supersetting or the tough gym workouts during the golden era. No treadmill, no loop-t-do master, no bike. Don’t over aerobicize, kids.

Don’t starve yourself. Don’t overtrain. Relax and think positively.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

I see all the references to low carb dieting, but will they work in an ectomorph like me?

The diets I suggest are high-protein, low-carb, medium-fat musclebuilding diets for hard trainers. Adjust the ratio of good carbs and healthy fats up if you want. This will possibly work better for your metabolic needs.

EFAs and no junk carbs, mix protein sources. Don’t go crazy.

Getting overly particular in counting calories and grams of sugars, proteins and fats can lead a good lifter to the madhouse. Searching for the perfect menu from the gillion sources of experts will interrupt your sound training attitude.

Estimate; practice right eating and train hard regularly and trust yourself — be of good cheer, be confident, be tough…

Go… Godspeed… Dave

I’m about 275 lbs and want to chop 50 off of that by tackling the mid section while strengthening the core muscles while not bothering a recovering herniated L4. Do you have any cable exercises that you can recommend that I can start with?

Glad to hear the recovery progress is going well. I hope to have my back surgery in the next few months, same area involving three discs that need to be relieved of nerve blockage.

I don’t have the weight problem, but assure you you’ll be able to attend to that by increasing your activity (cycle and whatever exercises are possible regularly — daily) to help raise the metabolism and by right eating. You need discipline in eating and the right combination of foods (nutrients) to suit you — we’re all different. I like high protein, medium good fat and medium healthy carbs.

I go to a gym; after surgery I’ll roam the gym floor and select by sampling the various machine exercises that do not adversely load the lower back. There are a bunch: dip machine, pulldowns with a variety of grips, seated back row, certain Hammer Strength back or chest machine, pushdowns. Any of these, if approached carefully (body positioning, improvised body support, light weight, modified range of motion, extreme focus), will serve to build and rebuild the body’s muscular system and structure. They make me happy and keep me strong and sane.

Slowly, surely, playfully and without pressure or doubt or anxiety you will sort out the worthy task before you.

Go… Godspeed… Dave