What Is Bill Doing

Ok, so many of you have seen Bill diligently get on the rower and pull a 5K after many of his workouts. He does this about 3 times/week on any day where the workout is not particularly long or metabolic. Bill has been training with us for 2 1/2 years and anyone who has seen him train knows what he is capable of. At 56 he is still one of the strongest guys in the gym. He’s gone from zero pull ups, zero dips, no stamina to speak of to being able to do virtually all of our workouts as proscribed. He has done this through diligence, hard work and cleaning up his diet. His diet prior to train with us, frankly, was horrible. This has changed.

There is one area where Bill has continued to struggle. It’s the last 15 lbs to get down to his goal weight. He stores virtually all of this remaining excess weight in his midsection. He took 30 years to build this, and it will take time for it to go away. His weight loss to date has been fantastic, dropping 7 inches off his waist, but he still hasn’t obtained his goal. So, after quite a bit of discussion and planning we have given him this additional task of the rowing. This is a shift in the program to continue to alter his metabolism and help shed the last 15 lbs.

I have been asked a few times, and have started to hear mumblings and rumors about what Bill is doing. Particularly from some of the women. Understand that Bill’s program is not optimal for most people. While the rowing will help him shed the additional weight, it will also induce a catabolic state. This catabolic state will have a negative impact on his strength gains. There is a chance that he could actually loose some strength over the time period in which he is doing this. I re-iterate at this time that Bill is one of the strongest guys in our gym, so strength is not a problem for him. This program is short term to shock his system a bit and get through this phase in his training. At that point it will be discontinued. For virtually everyone who walks through our doors, building healthy muscle and sticking with our normal program is the best option. If you have questions about what Bill is doing please don’t hesitate to ask me. We can address your specific training needs as always and ensure you are training the way you should be training. If you are concerned about weight loss we are first going to take a look at your diet, sleep habits and consistency in the gym. If these three things are not in order then these three things are what will be addressed first.