Yeah I'd definitely like to incorporate more swimming for conditioning. My main goal has been strength. I finally decided I had put on too much weight in pursuit of that goal so i had to correct it. Thankfully cutting has proven to be as easy for me as I always thought it would be. My inner ectomorph has reasserted its dominance in the last 6 weeks or so.

My biggest problem was that because it's tough for me to put on mass I essentially stopped all cardio and conditioning out of fear of cannibalizing potential gains. This was very foolish, but now I think I have figured out how to maintain a good balance going forward: eat pretty well, but not as strictly as I'm eating right now, lift heavy 4x a week with light cardio after, and do conditioning work twice a week.

How would you describe eating "pretty well?" What post-lifting cardio and conditioning work do you do?

What's the value of doing cardio after lifting?

How long have you been trolling me?

I get doing conditioning stuff on recovery or non-lifting days. I do not understand the value of cardio immediately after lifting on the same day. If your goal is to add strength - requiring bulking - what is the value of basically cutting immediately after? You're either operating at a surplus for gains, or operating at a deficit for conditioning. It's basically impossible to achieve the benefits of both on the same day, no?

Give me all of your foam rolling exercises, RM

the only thing i roll is joints

Haha okay verb

Body types matter, you guys.

Body types matter, you guys.

what would your ideal program look like for a taut 6' 173lb marketmonging fop who's interested in balancing gaining a moderate amount of strength, increasing overall functional athletic capacity, and staying quite lean?

crossfit is not an option

Excellent question and I'd like to add

Spoiler: show

washing machine wrote:

Give me all of your foam rolling exercises, RM

what would your ideal program look like for a taut 6' 173lb marketmonging fop who's interested in balancing gaining a moderate amount of strength, increasing overall functional athletic capacity, and staying quite lean?

crossfit is not an option

If you want to get stronger Crossfit is obviously not an option.

It depends on where you're starting from, but my advice is really simple:
For strength, follow a program centered on compound, heavy lifts. For athletic capacity, do some plyometric type of training and conditioning work. Assuming you're currently eating a maintenance level of calories, bump that up by 10% as you'll need those calories for the additional work you'll be doing. Provided that you're not eating pure junk, any weight you'll be putting on should overwhelmingly be muscle.

There are a ton of good strength programs out there, and while some may be better or worse than others it really just comes down to consistency. So pick one that you believe in and do it consistently.

Strength training 3 days a week: squats, deadlifts, bench, overhead press, chins, and cleans might be a good place to start. Google starting strength or Bill Starr for specific programs based around these exercises. You'll probably start by doing 3-5 sets of 5 reps progressively adding more weight each workout as long as you can.

Then 2-3x a week you can do your preferred conditioning/athletic activities: swimming, sprinting, circuit training, cycling, etc.

okay i'm on the right track then, this sounds pretty much like my program now. lift three times a week, focusing on compound movements and form (i'm less concerned with progressive overload than most, i suspect; i add weight only after i can do at least three sets of ten reps maintaining ideal form) and then swim two or three times a week, alternating between low/medium-intensity steady state and sprints. i limit myself to one cheat meal a week, hit the vegetables and lean proteins pretty dang hard, and have almost entirely eliminated processed junk (simple carbs and added sugars). my goal is to solicit a request from the lennytheweedwhacker account to rub my abs and/or lats.