Tom’s 3.7% Body Fat Routine
QUESTION: Hey Tom, I just read the article on your blog, “The Great Abs Mistake” and you said that to reach the “ripped” 3.7% body fat level you held for some of your bodybuilding competitions, you did cardio 7 days a week for 30-45 minutes per session, in addition to your 4 weight training workouts per week. I have a question about that….
First, How old are you? I’m 49, and if I did cardio 7 days a week in addition to my 3-4 weight training workouts per week, I would be totally wasted by the end of the week.
It’s not that I’m in bad shape, but my body doesn’t recover from workouts as quickly as it did when I was younger.
Don’t your weight training workouts for your legs suffer from doing all that cardio? Personally, I have a hard enough time building/keeping muscle and strength in my legs, so if I did the amount of cardio that you do, my legs would get smaller and weaker, not bigger and stronger.
I would love to have abs that look half as good as yours Tom, but either you’re Superman when it comes to recovery ability, or I’m unrealistic in thinking my 49-year old body could ever handle the frequency of workouts necessary to achieve your level of body fat and therefore abdominal appearance.
Thanks,
Mac
ANSWER: Thanks for your questions. Keep in mind that the level of training volume I talked about in my abs article was for an advanced body builder with a competition goal of low single digit body fat of 4-5% or less.
That’s an extreme goal, and extreme goals require a lot of work. If you feel that you can’t recover from 7 days a week of cardio in addition to 3-4 strength training sessions, then don’t do that much cardio! I’m not being a smart alec when I say that, I’m serious. It sounds like you’re very tuned in to your own body and you already know the answers to your questions. Most people don’t have a good sense of their body’s recovery ability so they end up (1) overtraining or (2) they don’t push themselves hard enough. Either way, they get less results than they could. My advice is to keep paying attention to your body’s signals and follow them, but also adjust your approach according to your results. I turned 40 not long ago so I can relate to needing more recovery time than a 19 year old, but do NOT sell yourself short due to age. (haven’t you heard - 50 is the new 30!) Also keep in mind that my “3% body fat program” was NOT designed to get my legs bigger and stronger, it was designed to get my body ripped and ready for competition. I cycle my training volume throughout the year based on my goal at the time. If my goal was to get my legs as big and strong as possible, I would keep my cardio as minimal as possible. During pre-contest prep, the prime objective is to get leaner while maintaining my muscle, not to add mass and gain strength. Regarding whether my weight training workouts suffer from doing “all that cardio,” the answer is no, not at all. Why would it? I don’t think 7-8 hours a week of training is an excessive amount at all for a competitive athlete. Compare it to what some of the Olympians and professionals do and it’s a paltry amount. Granted, the average person could get good results on 3 hours a week of training and great results on 5, but like I said, you can’t get professional results by putting in recreational time. As Dr. Phil would say, GET REAL! Also, cardio doesn’t sap your central nervous system or drain your muscular system recovery very much unless it’s high in intensity. My cardio is mostly moderate in intensity. If I do high intensity interval training (HIIT), it’s usually only 2-3 sessions per week. I do use HIIT, but I’ve neved jumped on the bandwagon that HIIT is the only way to do cardio (it’s NOT, as bodybuilders such as myself have proven time and time again. I’ve done primarily low to medium steady state cardio for all 28 of the competitions I’ve entered, and part of it is for the very reason you mentioned: To manage recovery. Every HIIT workout could be considered a leg workout and therefore, recovery is required. Also, I train on a 4 day bodybuilding split, 2 days on 1 day off, working legs only once every 6 days. If I were doing a different type of training schedule that called for 2-3 intense leg workouts per week, then sure, lower body overtraining would be a concern. You wrote:“I would love to have abs that look half as good as yours Tom, but either you’re Superman when it comes to recovery ability, or I’m unrealistic in thinking my 49-year old body could ever handle the frequency of workouts necessary to achieve your level of conditioning, and therefore abdominal appearance.
Yep, I’m superman…
No, seriously, here is the only place you need to re analyze. What you just said is making some assumptions that may be incorrect. You’re assuming that a certain frequency of workouts is necessary to achive a six pack abdominal appearance.It’s possible to get six pack abs with NO cardio. To lose body fat what you need is not cardio per se, what you need is a calorie deficit.
To get a six pack, you need very low body fat, so that means you must stay consistently in a calorie deficit long enough to get rid of even the very last bit of fat. Cardio is simply a means to an end, the end being to create a larger caloric deficit and to help you reach a time-bound goal by a certain deadline date. Fat loss through caloric restriction alone is working at 50% capacity. I can easily double my weekly caloric deficit by using cardio. If you watch TV shows like The Biggest Loser, then you know that people can double, triple even quadruple the standard rate of weightLoss by doing outrageous amounts of exercise (sometimes they do 3-4 hours a day!!!) However, that would not be wise for a variety of reasons, one of them being what you mentioned — over training and under recovery. It would be creating a huge calorie deficit at the expense of beating up your body and eating up your time. What you need is a caloric deficit. For fat loss, FOCUS ON THE DEFICIT. How you choose to achieve that deficit is up to you and indeed, the ideal way can vary from person to person. If you choose to put in only 3 hours of total training time per week, that’s fine; that’s your choice. But then you’ll need to either accept slower fat loss or get your caloric deficit by decreasing your caloric intake from food. For me, there’s not a shred of a doubt in my mind that I’m an “eat more, burn more” type of person. I have to balance my work with my recovery like everyone else, but I do MUCH better on more food and more exercise. That’s why daily training is not overtraining for me. I always fuel my body appropriately for my level of training. Sometimes what you think is overtraining is really under-nutrition. Other people are better with a larger calorie cut from food and less exercise; either for recovery reasons, time efficiency reasons or personal preference. The approach you must avoid at all costs is high training volume and very low calories. That’s physique suicide. It means a higher amount of training and cardio at a higher food intake, therefore the food is eaten to support the exercise. That’s the way all good athletes do it. last but not least, if your goal is to reach extremely low body fat or get 6-pack abs, then keep in mind, that those are not easy goals to achieve, especially with a low level of activity. To achieve a ripped look with low activity will very likely require a low carb, high protein diet. My Burn The Fat system is a 3-phase program, including a “competition level (Phase III) low carb, high protein plan, for that very reason. One way or the other, with diet or with exercise you’re going to have to pay a price to get that 6-pack. Most people underestimate the amount of effort it takes to get competition lean or “6 pack abs” lean. It’s simple, but it’s not easy. When your expectations come in line with reality, it doesn’t get any easier physically, but mentally it’s easier because you understand what must be done and all the confusion is lifted… To learn more about the exact system I use to get lean enough to see 6-pack abs, visit my site at www.BurnTheFat.com Your friend and coach, Tom Venuto26 August, 2008 posted in Reader Q & A
Comments
Hi Tom, in light of this post perhaps you can comment on this post at Jason Ferruggia's website:
10 Reasons Why I Don't Do Aerobics:
jasonferruggia.com/?p=165
Posted by: Barry | August 26, 2008 3:31 PM
Barry, are you trying to stir up controversy? LOL
re-read my article. I think I put everything in perspective quite clearly.
What you need to get leaner is a caloric deficit, not a specific amount or type of cardio or exercise. what you need is a certain amount of energy expenditure, not "aerobics" per se.
There is more than one way to expend energy and achieve a caloric deficit. the most appropriate method might depend on a lot of factors, including sports involvement, personal preference, need for time efficiency and so on.
If some big macho dudes want to flip tires to expend energy instead of stairmaster or run, god bless em. that works too. If people want to burn calories playing basketball. Great. Whatever works for you. Its not about "aerobics" its about energy expenditure and the interplay of calories expended via activity versus caloric input via diet.
yes, of course you can overtrain. yes of course the type of exercise matters. Yes, intensity matters. yes, hormonal response to exercise matters. Yes, You need strength training regardless.
However, I think all the cardio or aerobics bashing thats going on among various strength coaches is unnecessary, unfortunate and misguided if it's extended beyond the strength athletes they are catering to or if it turns into dogma. Like I said, there is more than one way to do it. Ive spend most of my career catering to bodybuilders and overweight/obese individuals
Ive seen people succeed in getting lean with every type of exercise program imaginable.
John bartlett got ripped with bodybuilding training and mountain biking
Arkady hagopian did it with running, triathalon training and some weight training.
For bodybuilders like myself, the traditional approach, which works as well as it ever did, is weight training in conjunction with moderate amounts of cardio. I hardly think think 30-45 min a day is excessive for for 8-12 weeks of contest prep. The results speak for themselves
and also, i can speak from experience when I say that the majority of obese people who lost significant amounts of weight did by starting with large amounts of walking. OMG!! GASP!!! low intensity aerobics!!!! Heck, isnt walking the most "functional" human movement of all? yet, these experts make it sound like low intensity aerobic activity will kill you!
My training methods have hardly turned me into a rail thin dysfunctional -slow-twitching, hormonally depleted adrenally burned out weakling, like that article suggests. yes, I can post MY pictures too! Who's right - him or me??? perhaps BOTH us us, eh? Different strokes for different folks.
I prefer the higher energy expenditure and more food approach rather than the reverse and I have no problem with a 30-45 min a day on a cardio machine and Im clearly not overtrained with that amount of exercise considering my lifestyle and nutrition provides perfectly adequate recovery.
see my g glux interview with john berardi for more info on the eat more/burn more approach:
gflux part 1
g flux part 2
g flux part 3
Posted by: tom venuto | August 26, 2008 3:39 PM
I totally agree Tom. I talk to a lot of people that have trouble committing to exercise to get in better shape and lose fat because they think that there is no way that they can exercise every day.
First of all you usually are not going to have to exercise everyday, especially when you are not in good shape already.
Secondly, you only work out today and make a plan to work out tomorrow. This way there is not pressure except for the pressure that you can act on, working out today.
Posted by: fitness guy | August 26, 2008 8:21 PM
Dear Tom , I need to tell Mac that he is wrong and has set himself up for low expectation . I am 53 years old in my young days I ran marathons and never sported a six pack . Strange that someone that could run a sub three hour marathon , put in 70-100 mile weekly training sessions wouldn't have one . Two years ago I got Tom's program BFFM. Tom's advice is truly the best advice I can find from all the experts on fat loss when it comes to getting into single digit BF. Mac like everything else you have to make lifestyle changes and the same goes for recovery . I go to bed at 8 sometimes 7 to get my recovery and I haven't taken a day off in 2.5 months . I now sport an 8 pack , thanks to Tom and everytime I reach a new goal that light bulb comes on " OH YEAH TOM SAID THIS WOULS HAPPEN " . I decided to enter a competition next year and all this is possible because we got a guy like Tom around to give us the best advice on fat loss .Thanks Tom .
Posted by: peter | August 27, 2008 4:58 AM
Great post Tom. You really simplified what needs to be done to achieve that lean ripped look and you give a couple of ways to do it. I don't remember where I read it so I can't give appropriate credit but it went something like "fat loss is simple when you learn how difficult it is". Thanks Tom.
Posted by: Jesse | August 27, 2008 8:11 AM
Great Article , Tom.
Your blog is so enlightening.
I have a question btw regarding this post ... since you are a big proponent of the eat more , burn more approach ... how big is the calorie deficit you create from the food side to get ready for competitions ? is it 15-20% (like normal people) or is more into the aggressive category ? i'm just curious because you are a bodybuilder and a natural one. and i know that bodybuilders try to hold on to as much lean mass as possible before competitions.
according to what i've learned so far from BFFM to keep the muscle you have to use a small calorie deficit.
thanks Tom.
Posted by: Mark | August 27, 2008 4:37 PM
mark - generally, the more overweight a person is, the safer it is to use an aggressive calorie deficit -- ie, 30% below maintenance (TDEE). when you are already lean, trying to get leaner as in a pre contest bodybuilder, its safer and better for retention of lean body mass to keep a more conservative deficit, like 15-20%.
For more info see This post
Posted by: Mark | August 27, 2008 4:47 PM
Wow Tom!
That was the best news letter ever for me! I'm 51... or should I say '31'! Besides having a carpet cleaning business which is all day cardio sometimes, I've been working out like a dog as well.
At 6 ft I'm down from 197lbs and 23% bodyfat 2 years ago, to 175lbs and 15% body fat. That's OK but I've been stuck at that for at least 6 months. Soooo, I guess I just like eating a little too much! LOL.
I'm gonna keep on keepin' on with your plan and helpful hints. My goal is 9%BF. The weight could even go up now as long as it's muscle!
Thanks again!
Ric Hancock
Posted by: RIc | August 29, 2008 6:41 AM