advice & critique appreciated

[sammybaby]

First, me:

5'6", 175 lbs, about 26% according to the Tanita scale upstairs. 30 years old. No signifigant dietary restrictions, although my wife doesn't eat meat besides chicken and fish, so meals we take together (ie, weekday dinners and weekend meals) don't include red meat.

My current goals, in descending order of priority:
1. Get down to 15% bodyfat
2. Increase my "wind" (endurance for martial arts)
3. Avoid losing previous strength gains.
4. Increase abdominal strength (working towards a "standing wheel").
5. Get down to 10% bodyfat. (a nice bonus)
The Workout Plan:
Warrior Wellness (plus a bit of Super Joints) every morning, or darn near.
Two hard, one light indoor HOC workouts a week (per M. Mahler).
Two hard, one light ab workouts a week. (training KB windmills and partial standing wheels)
Power yoga once a week (mostly because my wife goes)
Kung fu once a week (usually quite low exertion)
Would that I could throw some clubbell workouts in there, but they weren't among my gifts this year, more's the pity. With luck, soon enough, though.

The Diet Plan:
Essentially, low carbohydrate and volume during the day, followed by less-low carbohydrate during the evening. So, mac & cheese dinners are history, but the occasional bit of whole-wheat bread is a definite possibility.

I seem to recall reading an article that suggested that a good plan for healthy eating avoids consuming fat and carbohydrates at the same time, but doesn't necessarily label one or the other as bad. I wonder if anyone here practices that kind of diet planning? It sounds like something I'd be very interested in trying.

Sorry if this post seems a bit unfocused: as much as I dislike New Year's Resolutions, it seems like I've made more than a few this year, and I'm trying to see how best to fit them together. Any comments or advice any of you might have would be appreciated.

Sam

The training looks good overall. You don't say what your
doing now, so I can't compare the lifting volume. You said
not losing strength/muscle was a priority. I would watch
the HOC carefully. Having that as your main lifting may
make that goal tuff. I usually like 2 heavy days and 2
HOC type days, but you have alot of other stuff included.
Try to have your HOCs concentrate on the KBs rather then
BW stuff. Frankly you don't need to worry about this till you get to say 165. the power yoga and Kung fu are plenty BW wise.
You have a nice mix or restorative modes in there.

Diet wise again looks good. Getting to 15% and 10% are 2 very different things. I would say if you stick to your
plan as is, 15% is a no brainer w/i 3-6 months - I would
think you would be around 160. Just a note - whole wheat
bread, although infinetly better then a donut, is a carb
like any other fat loss wise.

Food combining is nonsense. It is true that mixing fat
and carbs or protien and carbs is fat inducing but that's
just because the carbs are killing your fat metabolism.
It's not like if you have meat for lunch and pasta for
dinner it's any different then having them together. If
your eating x amount of carbs daily, your eating them,
period. Carbs can be "cycled" but not on the same day and it's complicated.


You have solid plan that should work. Keep us posted, ask questions and Good luck

Bill

[Connie Brown]

The only thing I would add to Bill's comments is, I would have to watch out for not eating enough during the day. When I tried low-carb and low volume during the day, and let myself get too hungry, I would eat too much even of a good dinner. but then I am older and the metabolism is prolly not as lively as yours.

It worked better for me to have equal-ish meals at regular periods and, if one of them had higher carbs, to have it morning or noon.

PS the higher carbs are always also high fiber. I wouldn't do bread or donuts for example. but yes squash or beans or something like that.

[sammybaby]

Many thanks to both of you for your responses. I'll likely start posting to Program Logs a week or so in to fill you all in on my results.