健身教練 Daniel Chung Personal Training

About body fat/body composition

If you are a grown man and you weigh under 150lbs, what you really need for a better looking physique is most likely more muscle mass. Dont worry too much about getting shredded just yet. Don't be obsessed with bodyfat percentages. There are guys who are very lean(sub 10%) and can barely show visible abs. There are also guys with a 12-15% body fat showing visible abs.
Aesthetics aside, leaner equals healthier? Only up to a certain extent. If you're obese, obviously you should lose some weight. But for most guys, staying below 10% bf the time isn't necessarily optimal for health. The fitness industry has us obsessed over being lean, but staying too lean can actually have negative effects on your energy, libido, or even your potential for gaining muscle mass.

Been a little lazy with social media lately, but was able to really focus on training. Been able to get in 2 hours of training 4x a week, which was definitely something I haven't had the luxury of doing for at least a couple years now. Started working with for a couple weeks. As a coach, working with a coach(a good one of course) is probably one of the best ways to improve, both as an athlete and as a coach. One of my biggest issues with training had always been that I wanted to work on too many different things all at once. Now I'm having to be accountable to lock down on a few specific goals and not mess around too much 😂.

The goal had always been the same. Just to be slightly better than yesterday, everyday.

Every day presents the opportunity to be better.

📷:

Time to get back to work! What's your favorite form of cardio?

So apparently gyms are finally allowed to open again next week! Who's excited to get those gains coming back?!

- How lean should you be?-

I've had clients asking questions like "ideally how much should I weigh?" Or "how much more weight should I drop(or gain)?"
There are two main issues with this type of question. First off, body weight is equated with body composition. Somebody who is the same height and weight could be a lot leaner or fatter than another with the exact same height and weight. So looking only at the weight is not a great indicator in many cases.
The bigger part of the problem though, is that there is no such thing as how lean you "should" be. Obviously, health is the number one concern. It is not healthy to be obese, no debate there. But at a certain point, is being leaner gonna be any healthier? Beyond health, how lean you want to get is really about what you want, rather than some objective standard of what's ideal.
Take into account the following -
1) Genetics. Some people are genetically prone to be leaner, some aren't. It doesn't mean you can't get or stay lean, but it's going to mean it's harder for some to stay at 10% bodyfat, while others can maintain a low bf% relatively comfortably.
2) Priorities. Sometimes, getting leaner could mean making sacrifices. Whether it be enduring a more restrictive diet and sacrificing social life, or in some cases, it could be sacrificing your strength gains or even impacting your health.
3) Long term vs. short term. Sometimes bodybuilders or fitness models may get extremely lean for a competition or photoshoot, but they don't stay that way year round. Being at an extremely low bodyfat percentage is not healthy for the body. Our body actually needs fat! But sometimes, we may want to get extra lean for a show or a shoot. That doesn't mean we should be obese the rest of the time either. Find out what's a good range for you to maintain in the long term.
Personally, I'm somewhere between the left and the center photo most of the time. It's a state where I can feel relatively healthy, not stress much about food, and feel relatively strong. Photo on the right was when I got a bit leaner for competiting, but definitely wasn't the strongest I've felt.
Find out what works for you, and set your goals accordingly!

Clients have asked me what I think is the best ab exercise. My answer, it depends. For somebody who is completely new to training or starting out way over-weight, something as simple as a 30 second plank could be extremely challenging. Whereas for some calisthenics athletes capable of doing all sorts of static holds, there is no reason to waste time on such low intensity exercises. Same goes for training any other muscle groups. You wouldn't ask somebody who can bench 225 or more to be doing sets of 10-20 push-ups, simply because there wouldn't be enough stimulus for growth. Think about what's best for you currently, as that may(and should!) be changing over time.

- Discipline -
Something that we don't talk about enough in the industry, because telling a client that they're simply not disciplined enough, rather than just having a lack of know-hows, simply doesn't sell well.
Often times the biggest mistake I see isn't a bad training program. It's not necessarily even a bad dieting plan. Often times, it is the lack of discipline to execute these plans 100%. You may be disciplined enough to put in that couple hours of work in the gym. You may even be actually working hard during those few hours. But the discipline it takes to make sure your nutrition is aligned with your goals, all seven days of the week, the discipline to stay away from the drinking, and the discipline to make sure you are sleeping enough for optimal recovery. These are the things that divides those from reaching spectacular goals from those who may make a mediocre difference over the span of 3-4 months.