Behold a question from a customer (anonymised and editorialised to preserve privacy):
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A question if I may, but please don’t feel obliged to answer.
I have purchased your Weight Loss Manifesto and have found it extremely useful so far.
My primary goal is to continue to loose fat while at the same time build muscle and get a better shape.
However, with regards the training section, I have been doing the Stronglifts 5×5 workout (assuming you are familiar with this?) for coming up to 12 months now (with the exception of 3 months off between July – October last year) which is different to the training that you recommend in the book.
Would you recommend changing the workout to something with varied weights and rep ranges for each exercise in each workout or do you feel the 5×5 workout is worthwhile?
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Response:
Stronglifts is an excellent regime. I never did it (I used an old Reg Park routine I sadly can no longer find anywhere on the internet), but I did use it with certain clients back when I had my gym.
It’s better than probably 95% of routines people do, but it’s not great for fat loss for a couple of reasons:
1) There’s too little volume per session, and,
2) The volume that is there is highly demanding, which saps your recovery and ability to do sufficient cardio.
So.
I would recommend what I have written in the book. It works well (I have a Phil Tyreman Letter subscriber who is using the routine as we speak to great effect) because the per session volume is higher and largely consists of stuff that won’t strain your body too much while leaving plenty of time, energy, and recovery capacity for cardiovascular work.
Right now, if I were in your position, I would be aiming to get my weight down over everything else and worry about strength and muscle building later.
A lot of bigger guys worry too much about building strength and muscle (understandable, given that it’s a type of exercise that lends itself well to the larger frame) when I am convinced they would be better off from a health, performance, and aesthetic standpoint if they “lose fat first”.
Mine is certainly not a popular message by any stretch of the imagination.
(I am living proof of that, given how I have been very resistant to it at various points, even subscribing to the belief that if I just built enough muscle the fat wouldn’t look so bad for a time.)
And something that is even more unpopular is the self-evident fact that running is the remedy to pretty much every “weight problem”.
Whatever.
Never let it be said that I will avoid telling the truth for the sake of popularity or, worse, making a sale.
On that note:
March’s issue of “The Phil Tyreman Letter” goes deep into the art of successfully integrating running into your training regime, so you can enjoy shorter (and more productive) workouts, a more aesthetically pleasing appearance, and lower odds of a premature death among other things.
As well as the newsletter you will get:
* Unfettered access to me via text, email, and voice note for any and all training queries (e.g. programming adjustments, form critiques, instructional videos, moral support, etc.).
* A book that I reserve only for newsletter subscribers (because it contains certain teachings only people who are fully “bought in” to what I am about will be able to read without calling for the book to be burned, much less benefit from).
* Various extra pieces of useful information from time to time (articles, videos, audio, and so on).
The deadline to get March’s running-centric issue looms large, so make haste to the below page if you are interested. (I have recently updated it to include a short audio recording that will greatly aid those who need to hear the message.)
https://philtyreman.co.uk/information/
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman