Questions – 1/8/2013
Jamal
When you would ever incporate Machine or Cable work during a workout? When would be a good time do so? My workouts consist of all free weights and i read that using cable exercises could be a good shock for my muscles, especially my shoulders.
7 January 2013
Tyler - I incorporate cable work at any point of my workout. Beginning, Midway, Or end. I believe in the muscle confusion principle so I never do the same workout twice because I feel that it's the best way to shock your muscles by doing something different each time you step in the gym. My suggestion is definitely throw some cable work into your workouts. For shoulders some of my favorites are behind the back cable one arm laterals, and seated rope face pulls. Check out my members section if you want full detailed workouts that I do.
Jake
Tyler, do you usually cycle of your supplements (i.e. creatine) when doing on a photo shoot? Are there specific supplements you use prior to a photo shoot (short term)?
7 January 2013
Tyler - I stopped creatine use about 5 days before my shoot. There are no specific supps I use short term prior to a shoot. I didn't use any diuretics for my Jason Ellis shoot.
asad
Hi Tyler, As you know most of the Multi vitamins out their in market have insane dosages of vitamins in them like 10000 IU of vitamin A where RDA of vitamin a is 3000 IU. I just want to know how do you choose Multi for yourself or can you recommend any good Multi.
7 January 2013
Tyler - Most of the sports specific or bodybuilding catered multi vitamins have more in them since our bodies are put through a lot more than the average person. The recommended dose from the government is for average people that aren't training their ass off in the gym every week. I suggest going to bodybuilding.com and using one of the top supplement companies version of multi vitamin
Adam
When is it best to do use the drop set technique? The last set of the last exercise of the muscle group? Beginning of the workout as a pre exhaustion technique? Last set of ever exercise you do?
5 January 2013
Tyler - You have answered your own question. My belief is the muscle confusion principle so I say try them all! See what works best for you and see how your body feels. I like to do them a couple time throughout the workout and it really just varies on the exercise I pick do them with. Sometimes it's on the first exercise other times is several exercises. Check out my members section for my detailed workouts and you will be able to see exactly how many I do etc for each workout.
Shaun
Hey Tyler, just want to seek your professional opinion. I just got out of surgery a couple of weeks ago and I can't workout for a month. I am going to be doing TMT-Phase 2 when I get back for the first 4 weeks while waiting for your new e-book to be released. However, do you think I should try to bulk up to make up for the 1 month break or just resume my cutting phase?
1 January 2013
Tyler - That depends on what your trying to do with your body. I assume that after surgery and being down for a month you might lose weight. I would get back on a regular eating plan in order to bring your weight back to where it was and the assess the situation from there. My new ebook will be out very soon!
Questions – 12/16/2012
shoutbox questions
Daniel
Tyler, thank you for the Ebooks. Not only other people at work and the gym seeing striking new results in my physique it also makes working out more interesting for me. I am looking forward to your next Ebook.
15 December 2012
Tyler - Thanks! new ebook coming soon!
Sunny
Hey Tyler, the other day i came down on my hand pretty bad. I believe it's a bone bruise but could be a hairline fracture in my palm (i used my palm to break my fall and the right hand landed on a corner of a rod). The day after it happend, i hit the gym like usual and i was doing Barbell Bench Press... i noticed that due to the pain in my palm i could only lift about 70% of my 6 rep max before my hand and wrist started to feel weak. The same goes for Military Press. I was on a strength gain cycle and only doing compound movements at low reps (6-8)... wha do you suggest i do in the mean time while it heals?
12 December 2012
Tyler - Sorry to hear that! If working out is causing too much pain then you will have to take time off and let it heal. Otherwise it might not heel correctly if you continue to put stress on it. If you able to do other exercises besides pressing movements that won't put pressure on it then I would do that until you are able to fully do everything again. good luck and hope you have a speedy recovery
Daniel
Hey, I'm interested in following your TMT workouts. Just wanted to ask if the two programs would be good for bulking purposes (I'd like to gain more muscle first, then sculpt the abs). Thanks.
9 December 2012
Tyler - TMT-PHASE 2 is more geared towards gaining lean mass. If you are a member of my website then all of the workouts that are posted in the workout logs are all geared to gaining size.
2013 Bodyspace Spokemodel search Semifinalist!
11/7/2012 SHOT by Jason Ellis
Thank you everyone that took the time to vote for me throughout the month of November! I received an email yesterday letting me know that I had made the top 20 for the spokesmodel search! I couldn't have done it without you guys so again THANK YOU 
I've already switched over to cutting mode now just to be on the safe side. If I am fortunate enough to make the top 5 that means I'll get to compete in LA during the fit expo which is Jan 19th weekend. So that puts me at about 6 weeks out right now. Today was the first day that I did a morning cardio session and it felt great. I forgot how good it makes me feel to get up and get my day started with some low intensity cardio. I will still be doing the HIIT program 3 days a week but as an addition I will be doing low intensity cardio as well.
12/5/2012 - JUST DO IT!
Tuesday my training partner Erik and I hit legs with a ton of volume! I can honestly say that it feels like I havn't been training my legs hard after that workout because the DOMS are INTENSE right now lol. We spent a total of 2 hours on the entire leg starting things off with 30 minutes of calves. Calves are still my weakest muscle group and they are improving but just like everything else it will take time. We did some German volume training for squats which is 10 sets of 10 reps and the thing that shocked me was that I was getting stronger towards the last 3 sets. 100 total reps for squats is grueling and I'm sure that has a big part to do with these crazy DOMS. Erik texted me later on in the afternoon saying his legs were still numb and he was so thankful that i like to hit legs that hard. To me there is no other way to train. Balls to the wall all the time! Of coarse you have to be smart and listen to your body too. You need to know when to back off and when you can go crazy. Yesterday I felt completely drained from that leg session so instead of training arms I ended up taking the entire day off. I'm glad I did because today I feel refreshed and ready to train hard! I think I'm going to go back to my old split of taking every Wednesday and Sunday off...seems to work best for my body.
Part of the requirement of being in the top 20 for this contest is a submission of a video of why I deserve to be the spokesmodel. It's due on Sunday and will be uploaded to my youtube channel so I'll be posting that on here as well.
I decided to turn my shout box back on but please keep in mind that this is for anything to do with health and fitness related questions. So please keep anything inappropriate to yourself or I'll have to take it back down again.
November Recap!
11/7/2012 - shot by Jason Ellis
What's up everyone! It's been a while since I've posted on here and wanted to give some quick updates of what's been going on in my life. First off my shoot with Jason Ellis on November 7th went PERFECT! I've gotten back all of the images and they are by far my BEST work I've EVER done! I had been working with Tad the Diet Coach for about 6 months and he prepared me for that shoot as well. I've never been in that type of condition and I have Tad to thank for that guiding me and pushing me harder than I ever would have on my own. That last week or so was pretty rough but it was all well worth it! I will be randomly posting new images up from that shoot soon. After my shoot was over I didn't waste any time and was in the gym training the day after. I took a few days off from my diet then was back on it up until Thanksgiving week. I traveled up to VA to spend it with my family and friends and had a great time. My birthday was also that week and I turned 28 years old. It's hard for believe that I've now been training and trying to improve my physique for 9 years! (should be 10 years since I started at age 18 but minus the year of living in NYC when I was 24). During the holiday week I got to train with my old training partners natural pro Matt Liller, and Ben Bowles (which will be competing very soon himself). We had some really good training sessions and the day after thanksgiving we trained back and as the last exercise we did dead lifts. I hit 500lb for 2 reps then dropped down to 315lb for 25. After having some intense workouts and quite a few drinks for my birthday celebration then a 9hr road trip back to Nashville (only supposed to take 7.5 hrs but traffic was crazy) it took me a few days to recover from that trip...must be that I'm getting old lol. This past week getting back into the swing of things I could tell my body was worn down and beat up and by Thursday I had lost my motivation and could tell something was off with my body. So I decided to take off a full 3 days from the gym and it was the best decision I could've made. It's now Monday and I'm ready to get back after it and train my ass off again! Never underestimate the importance of rest and recovery. If you start to feel burnt out or just lacking the motivation take a few days off. I think if I would've continued on and not taken some time off I would have pushed my body into an over trained state which you can't continue to make progress when your body is fighting you back and craving rest. During my days off I didn't do anything fitness related and tried to keep my mind off of training and diet altogether. I've started working with a sports massage therapist in November as well. Every 2 weeks I'll be getting deep tissue and fascia stretching therapy done. Since my chest is an area that has been my main focus to bring up for the past year I've been getting the facia stretching done every session. It's a painful 90 minutes but I can already tell a difference in how my muscles are firing and training hard week after week takes a toll on you and being able to fix minor aches and pains has been a HUGE plus! As for my workouts I've kept the volume high and I feel that is the only way to train! Every workouts is anywhere from 20-30 total working sets.
11/28/2012 screenshot from members section arm video
In a couple days bodybuilding.com will be announcing the top 20 for the upcoming spokemodel search contest. I want to thank everyone that took the time to vote for me throughout the month of November! Hopefully you guys got me into the top 20 and shortly after that they will announce the top 5 around December 15. If I do make the top 20 I'm going to go ahead and start up my cutting phase again just to be on the safe side.
Also you want to follow my daily workouts and nutrition logs check out my members blog which is updated daily. Also starting last week there will be weekly videos!
11/30/2012 - "love the life you live. live the life you love." - Bob Marley
10 Days Out!
First off I want to apologize to the people that actually used the shout box for the correct reasons. I have decided to take it down since some people can't respect what the shout box is there for. So if you have any questions that you would normally ask on the shout box feel free to post it on my facebook page
10/27/2012
With just 10 more days to go this final push will not only be exciting but also very tough. Keep in mind when the going gets tough you have a choice to either give up and live with the what ifs and regret or push through the pain and be confident that all the sacrifice and hard work will be rewarded. My energy levels fluctuate day to day and even though I'm still eating quite a bit of food the no days off from cardio really starts to take a toll on your body. For the past 5 weeks I have been doing 2 cardio sessions seven days a week. Just this past Wednesday it got bumped up to two 45 minute sessions to make sure I get rid of this last bit of fat. What I wanted to touch on real quick is that I'm sure some of you have read that the only way to get shredded and dry is to restrict yourself from sodium 24/7 follow low to no carbs and you can't supplement with creatine mono because it will bloat. I'm here to tell you all of that is BULLSHIT. I eat a shit ton of sodium, lots of carbs, and take 10g of creatine mono everyday. I attest being able to do this by following a high volume weight training program and no skipping out on cardio sessions along with following a meal plan and never missing meals since the start of this past May. My training has been INTENSE through this whole process and I havn't lost any strength at all. I fly out from Nashville on November 6th and I shoot with Jason Ellis on Wednesday, Bill Comstock on Thursday, and Sonny Tong on Friday. The shoot with Jason will take place at a gym in Orange County and on Thursday I'll get to shoot on Venice beach if the weather permits and Gold's Gym Venice afterward! Friday's shoot with Sonny is for commercial/fashion style shots and that will be in OC as well. I'm extremely excited and I can't wait to get out there since I havn't been to Cali in 4 years!
After doing a lot of thinking on where I want to take my career within the fitness industry I have decided that I will be competing again in 2013. Yesterday I registered for the 2013 BODYSPACE Spokesmodel Search PRESENTED BY IRON MAN MAGAZINE. Voting starts November 1st so I'm going to need EVERYONE'S help voting daily to get me in the top 20..I REALLY WANT TO COMPETE IN THIS!! I'll be posting the links up to vote once it starts up! The online voting will be for the whole month of November. If I make it into the top 20 then a judging panel will decide who the top 5 are that will get to compete in person January 19th at the LA Fit Expo. So if that doesn't happen then my next plan of attack will be do decide which NPC Physique show I'll do and try to work my way up to get a pro card this upcoming year. All of that being said means I'm going to keep my shape I'm in now at least until I see if I make the top 20 and then by December 15 they will announce the top 5. If I don't get the opportunity to compete in the Spokesmodel search then I will have a short "offseason" like I was having before my prep for these shoots to gain some size and continue to make improvements to my weak areas and target my first physique competition.
19 Days OUT! (Members Section Free Preview)
This is my post today in my members section blog. Every workout is posted daily along with my supplementation and nutritional plans, tips, etc. There is also a forum where you can post and ask any questions pertaining to your diet and workouts etc.
10/18/2012 - no flex relaxed
I could definitely feel the effects of dieting and no days off from cardio yesterday. I was feeling pretty drained and depleted but still had a VERY good training session with Erik. It's been really nice to have training partners for almost every workout because I'm pushing myself harder than I would if I was just by myself at this point. Skin is getting thinner by the day. I'm seeing new vascularity and for the first time ever I'm seeing veins coming out the side of my glutes. When I spoke with my coach Tad Inoue on Wednesday he told me that he couldn't believe that I was dropping at the rate I am with the amount of food he has me on. This amount of food is allowing me to keep my volume very high with weight training which I love! My strength has not dipped down at all. 19 more days till I shoot! The only changes as of today that I'm making is no more sugar free popsicles or my celery and cucumber snacks. Only my meals. I've dropped a total of 6lb so far during this dieting process and I can't wait to see what I look like when I dry out! I got to have my last cheat meal last night and Amber told me that I ate enough to feed a family lol. I started off at my place with a glass of red wine (I'm a pinot drinker) and a glass on the way to Cheesecake Factory (she drove) Those 2 glasses of wine gave me a very nice buzz and it was much needed because for the past few days I've been getting HIGHLY irritable. The dumbest shit has been pissing me off and my temper has been very short lol. We started off with buffalo chicken wings and a chicken quesadilla. I ate 3 of the 4 quesadilla slices and not sure how many wings I had but it was the majority 
We both ordered burgers and I got the classic burger with bacon,one egg,cheese, and avocado added along with fries. She got the BBQ burger and could only eat half so I finished off her half as well. For desert we got 2 slices of cheese cake. Chocolate cookie dough and Reese's peanut butter. She had a few bites and I pretty much ate both pieces ha. If you've been reading my facebook posts at all you'll know that my sleep has been so screwed up during this process. Last night was even worse. The cheat meal kept me heated all night and I couldn't use the covers and my place is set on 69 degrees. We fell asleep around 11 and I woke up at 2am wide awake ready to go thinking it was 6am. I basically was only able to take short naps for the rest of the night. The reason this happens is because the cheat meal throws your body into shock when your depleted and it speeds up your metabolism where it's in overdrive all night long. Despite lack of sleep after all that food today I feel replenished and actually feel normal again. This will only last for today because tomorrow I'll be feeling depleted again 
Today is back day and I can't wait to train! Here is yesterday's workout
- Standing reverse cable flys (for rear delt) 3x20 warm ups (10,20,20 each side) (3x15) 30lb each side
- Reverse Pec Dec Flys - (for rear delts) 4x12,12,10,10 one dropset on last set (130lb,160lb,160lb,160lb,drop to 100lb)
- Smith Machine overhead press - (for overall delt) 4x15,12,10,8 2 drops on last set (100lb total,120lb,140lb,140lb, then dropped 40lb, then 50lb)
- Standing DB Laterals (for side delts) - 4x12 with 2 drops on last set (25lb each hand,35lb each hand,40lb,40lb, then drops 25lb,15lb,5lb)
- Barbell Front Raise - 4x12 (50lb,60lb,70lb,80lb)
- Barbell Shrugs - 4x12 (225lb all sets)
- Smith Machine Behind the Back Shrugs (135lb all sets) 3x15
- 15 min HIIT cardio on stair climber level 5.0 for 1 min followed by 1 min of 7.0. at the 13 min mark I finished with 2 min of 7.0
10/19/2012
This video pretty much explains how I feel
Questions – 9/28/2012
Phill
What's your take on water retention and how can I lower it?
26 September 2012
Tyler - if your not competing or doing some sort of shoot i wouldn't worry about retaining some water. higher carb diet can cause water retention so a way to lower it would be to go low carb. as for sodium the only way sodium will make you retain water is if you restrict it and then have a bunch of it. i don't restrict sodium and your body naturally gets used to the same amounts every day and you will sweat it out
Brian
email
Tyler, do you use or recommend any particular app on the iPhone to log your workouts?
26 September 2012
Tyler - Sorry I don't use any of those. I design my workouts now the day of my workout and I'll just type it out in the note pad on iphone
Paul
Hey Tyler, would you recommend doing 30 - 45 mins LISS cardio 6 times a week?
25 September 2012
Tyler - It depends on what your goals are and what your body fat is before I could recommend any type of cardio.
jason
Tyler, 2 questions for ya. What is L-Carnitine and what does it do for you? Have you ever taken a fat burner?
25 September 2012
Tyler - carnitine will help you use body fat for energy. I use it before my cardio. Yes I have taken a fat burner..I havn't taken one in a while but will be starting one back up next week when I start the cutting process.
Under 7 week out UPDATE
This morning I got up knocked out my 30 minutes of cardio on the stair climber. After that I pretty much felt drained and out of it for most of the day. I took the day off from weights and in between clients and client calls I managed to get a 30 minute nap in that was a life saver. I was thinking to myself it's too early to start feeling this shitty lol considering I havn't even started my diet yet. Cutting starts next Wednesday! I will be posting my diet up on my members section. The plan is to cut hard from the start then fill out leading up to the shoot. EVERYTHING will be posted in the members blog. I'm definitely not looking forward to feeling like shit all the time but the worse you feel usually the better you look lol. It'll all be worth it though. It's been over 2 years since my last shoot and I've NEVER gave a photo shoot 100 percent effort in prep so I can't wait to see the end result. I've got a videographer that will be filming my workouts and lifestyle type of videos when I'm a couple weeks out from my shoots.
Yesterday was arm day and since I got such a ridiculous pump last week I decided to do the exact workout to see if the same pump would happen. AND IT DID! That is by far one of my favorite arm workouts so definitely give that one a try and I guarantee your arms will be ballooned up! (workout posted in members blog) Tomorrow is Back day and the plan is to add some hamstrings at the end. I'm skipping morning cardio and I'm going to run outside tomorrow afternoon. That will most likely be one of the last time I run outside since I'll be keeping everything LOW INTENSITY starting next week. I just won't have the energy to do that type of cardio with the calorie reduction. One good thing about calorie reduction is a cheaper grocery bill lol. Everyone keep it up!
Questions -9/24/2012
Jake
Tyler, what do you suggest to take to keep "regular"? I get roughly 30grams of fiber a day, but for some reason my stool (for lack of a better word) hasn't been getting along with me. Perhaps digestive enzymes or just a laxative? Thanks man
24 September 2012
Tyler - I've had the same trouble in the past when I go very low carb. Try out dieters tea that helped me out a lot. If that does't work for you try using some metamusil every day.
Mike
How long are your cardio sessions and how many times do you do it a week?
24 September 2012
Tyler - 5 days a week for 30 minutes. I either do the incline treadmill walk, stair climber, or stairs out side. Yesterday I ran outside so I might start doing that a couple times a week
Dan
Hi Tyler, when i work out my chest i find that i feel my front deltoids working more than my chest. I have tried pre-exhausting my chest with dumbbell flys and then move onto heavier pressing exercises but i still feel the same. Is this due to poor technique or is it normal as the deltoids are a smaller muscle?
23 September 2012
Tyler - It's most likely due to trying to use too much weight. Drop the weights down and really focus on just the the chest. Once you get a strong mind muscle connection you will start to be able to use heavier weight without feeling it in the majority of your delts.
Will
know you hve moved on, great progress on yoru side, been inspiration for me in getting at the work, more than exercise but really work... like life is all in the same mind set thank you man really
19 September 2012
Tyler - Your welcome! glad I can help!
Sore ass lower back!
my view I get to wake up to every morning from my new place
It has now been almost 3 full days since Saturday's dead lift session and my lower back is still sore! Needless to say that was a HUGE shock to my body and trust me I've felt pretty drained since. On top of the crazy workout I managed to move into my new place and still get all of my normal cardio sessions, meals, and weight training workouts in. I'm EXHAUSTED. Tomorrow I have a busy morning with in person clients but pretty much my whole afternoon is off until 6pm so I'll be RESTING. No cardio and no weights. Today was leg day and I had to do quite a bit of adjusting to my normal routine that I've been doing since squats were out of the question. This Friday my new ebook TMT-PHASE 2 comes out!! After this one if your a member to my site you will no longer have to purchase my books as I'll start posting my daily workout logs next week on the member side. Phase 3 will be my preparation for my upcoming shoots and you will be able to follow my diet as it changes along with exactly what I'm doing in the gym daily to be photo shoot ready in my members section for only 9.95$ a month!
Food prep with my friend and neighbor Brian. This is our grilling area we have. I'll be spending a lot of time down here
A LOT has changed in my life in such a short period of time but I'm feeling great about everything and now that all the moving and running around is done I can now settle in and start to relax and enjoy my new place. It is about 5 minutes from my old house I was living in with my ex girlfriend so the move was easy but anytime you move it's stressful and a pain in the ass. I'm so happy I decided to stay in Nashville and I'm very excited about the future!
I've decided that I'm cutting out cheat meals all together from here on out. I originally was thinking about putting my Saturday one back in this week but I've decided to just keep doing what I'm doing without them. I'm surprised at how my condition has changed just since last Wednesday. I havn't stepped on a scale yet since it's been pretty hectic but tomorrow I'm doing my assessment and I'll be weighing myself first thing.
Trained one of my in person clients at their home gym this past weekend and couldn't pass up the good lighting lol
Categories
Shoutbox
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- Chris
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Hey Tyler...congrats on everything, I was wondering what certifications you have and which one in particular you think is most valuable to have?
- 31 January 2013
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- Sunny
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BCAA vs Protein Poweder post workout... im reading that i should be having a 2:1 ratio of carbs and protein powder post workout (mass gain phase)... however i have been taking a BCAA supplement with my simple carb shake... whats the real difference here'? Am i missing out on potentially additional mass by not taking an actual protein shake pwo with carbs as oppose to the BCAA?
- 28 January 2013
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- Mike
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Is it okay to do cardio 7 times a week? 5 days LIIS and 2 days HIIT or all 7 days LIIS? I am only planning to do it for 3 weeks before going back to my old cardio routine of 6/week in the morning LIIS. I just need to get in shape for the beach
- 27 January 2013
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- Ash
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Hey Tyler, do you think its alright to take dextrose post workout like 22g during a cut? or just remove it completely?
- 25 January 2013
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- ricky
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why dont you gain weight? I feel like even 220 is a bit skinny for a 6' 3" kid. In you most recent shoot u definitely lean I just think its a bit too lean to be a fitness model trying to get on covers. maybe thats not your goal though its unclear i guess. just my opinion no harm meant
- 25 January 2013
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- danie g
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hey tyler i have a problem when cutting weight and i allways lose weight from my arms ,llegs etc but never from my ab area any suggestions thanks
- 24 January 2013
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- danie g
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hey tyer ive always had a probllem that when i cut weight i dont ose bellly weight and i never lose weight from my stomack area any suggestions thanks.
- 24 January 2013
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- Ash
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Tyler, currently I am taking 1 scoop of protein with carnitine pre-cardio with some coffee on the side. However wold you recommend me to switch it to BCAA caps and carnitine with my coffee?
- 22 January 2013
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- Andrew
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I saw your blog post on HIIT Training, isn't it quite catabolic to be doing HIIT 3 days a week? I am currently cutting and doing your old cardio routine which is incline maxed and walk at 3.4
- 22 January 2013
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- Shaun
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Hey Tyler, do you readjust your cals every week according to your weight for cutting?
- 22 January 2013
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