A lot of people see what I have accomplished and ask me what I do. The prescription has not changed much over what is almost nine years now since I started this journey. Consistency and discipline have helped me achieve a body I never thought I'd have and now keep. Below is a breakdown of my training, conditioning, and nutrition. For statistical purposes, I am 5'8" 214 lbs and am about two months shy of 49 years old.

TRAINING
I have been training with weights for four days a week consistently for as long as I can remember. The training has not changed much at all. As for the exact plan, it has been 5/3/1 for well over five years now. The focus has been on strength. Hypertrophy has never really been a focus, but is a welcomed byproduct. I have played around with 5/3/1 circuits, but the day still always revolved around the squat, bench press, or deadlift.

In my experience, changing my weight training regimen has really never made the big difference in getting leaner. The greatest changes have come through diet.

I would say if I averaged out my four sessions, including warm ups, I'm probably down in the gym six hours a week for weight training. Luckily, my gym is in the basement, so there is no wasted time traveling to and from training.

CONDITIONING
Conditioning has been a staple in my program since I started losing weight. However, unlike training, it has evolved over the years. In the beginning it was light walks a few times a week. There was also sled dragging and some strongman type circuits. Then there were weight vest walks.

In the past few years I have really turned up the conditioning. I was doing hills for a while, sprints, there's also been tabatas consisting of airdyne sprints and burpees. To be honest, I don't enjoy them. I'd find myself prolonging training because I was dreading getting on the airdyne. I was having to "get up" for conditioning and that's not another stressor I need in my life.

The question is, how conditioned do I need to be? What is my conditioning truly for? The answer, to burn some calories and to allow me to do fun outdoor activities I really enjoy such as hiking, skiing, paddleboarding, and snow shoeing. So this has caused me to settle into LISS, Low Impact Steady State conditioning.

The most important thing I consider for my conditioning now, is getting my heart rate into zone 2 which is between 60 and 70% of my max target heart rate. I have found at this pace I don't hate conditioning, I'm giving my heart good work, I burn some decent calories, and it does not zap my strength at all.

However, getting in better condition comes at a cost. I have to work harder to get into zone 2. I found myself having to really pump up the speed and incline on the treadmill. In order to combat that, I put on the old weight vest. Just 20 lbs helped me get my heart rate up while only walking at a moderate pace and incline. So now my conditioning comprises of weight vest walks outside or on the treadmill or hikes. Three days a week I'll do an hour and two other days I'll do I'll do half an hour. That brings my conditioning total up to four hours a week.

NUTRITION
My nutrition has also changed a lot over the years. First I went with carb backloading. After that I was low carb for a while. The last bunch of years where I have seen the best results have been If It Fits Your Macros, IIFYM. Recently I have even played with this a bit, but I don't have definitive info to report on that yet, so stay tuned.

Anyway, I was functioning having three medium carb days a week, and one high one, all falling on my weight training days. Then I'd have three low carb days, those being my non training days. I have gotten really tired of this and now just averaged my macros to have six more medium type days and one high carb day. This seems to be working well, and is a bit more normal for everyday living.

Here's my macros (*roughly):
Sunday-Monday Calories 2300, Carbs 45% 250 grams, Protein 35% 200 grams, Fat 20% 50 grams
Saturday Calories 3600, Carbs 65%, Protein 20% 180 grams, Fat 15% 60 grams

*I say roughly because I don't count every calorie I eat. I don't often track things like ketchup, salad dressings, some sauces, etc. but I do use low sugar, lower fat versions of these condiments. I also might not count some veggies here and there. Lastly, sometimes I can be a little heavy with tablespoons when I measure things out like peanuts or peanut butter. I do think it would be interesting to take a week and actually weigh everything to the perfect gram or ounce to see exactly what my calories are. Sounds like a good future blog for Operation Be Less Fat.

Also, some days my macros might be juggled around based on what we are eating. I might go over on one macro and reduce another. I do however always stay within the calories for the day regardless of how I juggle the other macros.

The above said, although I may use the close enough method for some things, that does not include binge eating cookies and junk. I don't cheat on my diet. You'll never catch me running out and eating candy bars and pizza. If I do that, I reserve it for a cheat meal and those I only have about once every three months. I rather max out my Saturday high days with low fat and high carb foods. I find this refeed helps me physically, psychologically and hormonally.

TRAINING
6 hrs avg per week
CONDITIONING
4 hrs avg per week
NUTRITION
2,500 avg calories per day*

So there you have it. The layout I have used to get in, and stay in shape. Oops, I almost left out, this plan has me dropping an ever so slight amount of weight. That would be somewhere between one to two pounds a month. Now sitting around 214, I would like to get under 210 so I can have an easy cut to 198 when I decide to compete in a full meet.

Hope this helped. Good luck to all of you in your journeys.