A tactical approach can and should be used for weight loss. Today, I will use a woman as an example.
Instead of the carpet bomb approach that many women use towards weight loss (eat less and run and exercise until they are ‘small’), I like taking a tactical approach that really defines goals and vision.
So we can use the example of a 5’6 woman who is 31 years old and weighs 160 pounds. She has about 35% body fat . She isn’t sedentary, but isn’t exactly a ‘gym junkie’ either.
Now instead of just saying “lose weight” we will use the Venus Index principles to map out a weight loss guide.
At a height of 5’6 we know that the average Lean Body Mass (LBM) is about 104 pounds, and a little less than 50% of that is skeletal muscle…so that means about 50 pounds is true muscle.
We also know that at this height LBM can be as high as 112 pounds, but realistically, adding 4-5 pounds would be impressive since this is close to a 10% increase in Skeletal Muscle (since she would only be adding muscle and not all lean body mass).
So with a 8-10% increase in Muscle Mass we have a Lean Body Mass of roughly 108 pounds.
When we reduce body fat down to around 20% we see a VERY large decrease in body fat (From 56 pounds of fat down to 27 pounds) <– granted not all the weight loss will be Body fat, but over the long run a significant portion would end up being from fat.
Bottom line, we end up with a woman who is 5’6″ at about 135 pounds with roughly 20% body fat.
At these numbers and height we would expect to see a waist that is about 25 inches in circumference and shoulders that are between 40 and 41 inches in circumference. (keeping in mind she would be roughly 1 standard deviation more muscular than the average woman for her height)
So in this scenario I would use this description as her ‘body road map’ – something to aim for while doing everything possible in the gym to gain or maintain strength.
Remember Muscle mass follows strength. For anyone other than beginner athletes, you can’t get stronger at a lift without the muscle involved in that lift getting at least a little larger. And building an attractive body involves having some muscle that allows you to have a ‘shape’ underneath the skin and fat.
Then just like in the guy example, she would take her measurements, then test some basic lifts in the gym..shoulder press, squat, bench, dead, weighted chin, maybe weighted dips… Then Track and test and test and track during her weight loss progression.
This is an example of what it’s like when you are tactical with weight loss.
You now have a map, and you have some metrics to work with. You should now be able to eat less, lose weight, and track to make sure that the inches lost off of your waist and hips is greater than the inches lost on your shoulders. (We can also reasonably estimate that this transition should take between 4 and 6 months)
Now this road map is by no means perfect…you could be a genetic freak with VERY wide shoulders, or you may not be able to have a 25 inch waist, but you will probably be very close…(maybe she hits these numbers at a weight of 128 instead of 135 because she had less muscle then we estimated…etc)…but regardless… having a rough guide is better than having no direction at all.
That’s what the Venus Index is all about…tactical body ‘shaping’.
It’s a road map or a guide that makes the process a little less daunting.
After all, your body is malleable, so you can form it in the way you want as long as
A) you are tactical
and
B) you are realistic with you’re starting point and what you’ve got to work with.
BP
PS – To learn more about the Venus Index, go here.
