Once you reach your desired muscle gain goal, you will probably want to lose some of the excess
body fat you gained. Remember, this is totally normal. Your program is designed to minimize fat gain, but anyone on such a high calorie diet will gain some body fat along with the muscle. It is inevitable.
Why Train for Fat Loss?
If you want to look ripped, defined or see your abs, you will at some point want to shed some excess body fat. Many guys on mass diets just try to pack on the pounds and never think about the excess fat that comes along with it. Don't get into this trap. Bigger is not better, but bigger and ripped is. I cannot tell you when you should start thinking about losing some body fat, because everyone is different. Just don't let it get too high. The longer you wait to diet, the harder it will be to lose.
What's the Difference?
Since you will most likely be on a lower calorie fat loss diet also (you will not lose fat without dieting), you should focus on maintaining your current strength level. That's it. You should not be over stressing your muscles in any way. That means no negative reps. You will also reduce your number of core exercises, and focus on more machine and isolation work. This is because
when your body is on a lower calorie diet, it is less able to handle the high stress that heavy weight training can cause. You will continue to train on your normal 3 or 4 day schedule, but you will change your exercises and tempo. Your tempo will be 1/0/1, resting only 90 seconds between sets. In other words, you do the positive and negative motion each for a count of one. You will still work each body part only once per week, but you should only do a maximum of two exercises per body part.
Exercise Guidelines:
Tempo of 1/0/1
Rest 90 seconds between sets
1 warm-up set (12 reps)
3-4 moderate sets (10-15 reps)
Aerobic Exercise
To speed up your fat loss, you are required to perform some form of cardiovascular exercise, in the morning (no exception), on an empty stomach, for 30-45 minutes while keeping your heart rate at about 140 beats per minute. This may not seem like a lot, but it is the ideal range for fat loss. If you are working any harder you will be training for endurance and not fat loss. Also, if
you have a high metabolism, you will also be eating up muscle fast!
I suggest that you do your cardio exercise in the morning before breakfast because I want you to be burning fat calories when you exercise. I know this seems unusual, but if you eat before doing your cardio, you will be burning the calories from that meal and not body fat. This is one of the main reasons why many people do tons of cardio, but never lose any fat. I also recommend doing it in the morning because you will not have eaten for that eight hour period that you are asleep. Your muscles will have used up just about all of their glycogen (sugar used for energy) stores. Once this happens, your body turns to using stored body fat for fuel. You are more than welcome to exercise anytime you like, just do not eat 8-10 hours before.
The exercise I like the most for cardio is the stationary bike. It is no frills, straight to the point, and I can just be mindless while I do it — somedays that is the only free time that I have. You can do whatever you prefer. Runningburns the most calories, but that is not important. Anything that keeps your heart rate at the desired level for 30-45 minutes will do. Don't get caught up in how many calories you burn each session, because that is irrelevant. The point of doing cardio is not to see how many calories you can burn. You are already on a low calorie diet, so why would you want to burn off more? If you want fewer calories, just eat less!
The point of doing cardio is to increase your metabolism, which, in turn, causes you to burn more body fat. Studies have shown that your metabolism will remain elevated for up to 3 hours, after just 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, and for more than seven hours after 60 minutes of cardio1! That's why I do cardiovascular exercise.
It's best to do your aerobic exercise on non-weight training days, so you will be as strong as possible when training, but it is not absolutely necessary. If you can't do it on separate days, just space them as far apart as possible. For example, do cardio in the early morning and weight train in the afternoon or evening. I don't recommend doing cardio and weight training during the same session. With our fast metabolisms, it's murder on our muscle mass!
Spot Reducing
The next item that I would like to touch on is spot reducing. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, spot reducing is when you perform a particular exercise to help get rid of the fat in that specific area. For example, many people do an unnecessarily large number of sit-ups thinking that they will eventually burn off the fat in that area to reveal their six-pack.
Or they do side-bends with weights to get rid of their love handles, or choose to use the step machine thinking it will dissolve the cellulite around their lower body. You cannot do it. Spot reducing does not happen. The only way to lose body fat in those areas is to diet consistently. That's it. When you do, the fat will come from all areas. Unfortunately, it will usually come off of your most unsightly areas last. Typically for men the most difficult area from which to lose fat is the lower back and waist, while for women it is their upper thighs and buttocks. Go
figure.
The "ABS"olute Truth
No amount of weird exercises or machines will reveal your abs until you lose that layer of fat over them. The only way to do that is by consistent dieting and cardio. Period. All those odd hanging, leg twisting, body contorting exercises are no better than simple crunches. They will not make your abs suddenly appear like a bicep or a pec. Abs are not made in the gym, they are made in the kitchen. Diet, diet, diet.
From the Desk of A n t h o n y E l l i s
body fat you gained. Remember, this is totally normal. Your program is designed to minimize fat gain, but anyone on such a high calorie diet will gain some body fat along with the muscle. It is inevitable.
Why Train for Fat Loss?
If you want to look ripped, defined or see your abs, you will at some point want to shed some excess body fat. Many guys on mass diets just try to pack on the pounds and never think about the excess fat that comes along with it. Don't get into this trap. Bigger is not better, but bigger and ripped is. I cannot tell you when you should start thinking about losing some body fat, because everyone is different. Just don't let it get too high. The longer you wait to diet, the harder it will be to lose.
What's the Difference?
Since you will most likely be on a lower calorie fat loss diet also (you will not lose fat without dieting), you should focus on maintaining your current strength level. That's it. You should not be over stressing your muscles in any way. That means no negative reps. You will also reduce your number of core exercises, and focus on more machine and isolation work. This is because
when your body is on a lower calorie diet, it is less able to handle the high stress that heavy weight training can cause. You will continue to train on your normal 3 or 4 day schedule, but you will change your exercises and tempo. Your tempo will be 1/0/1, resting only 90 seconds between sets. In other words, you do the positive and negative motion each for a count of one. You will still work each body part only once per week, but you should only do a maximum of two exercises per body part.
Exercise Guidelines:
Tempo of 1/0/1
Rest 90 seconds between sets
1 warm-up set (12 reps)
3-4 moderate sets (10-15 reps)
Aerobic Exercise
To speed up your fat loss, you are required to perform some form of cardiovascular exercise, in the morning (no exception), on an empty stomach, for 30-45 minutes while keeping your heart rate at about 140 beats per minute. This may not seem like a lot, but it is the ideal range for fat loss. If you are working any harder you will be training for endurance and not fat loss. Also, if
you have a high metabolism, you will also be eating up muscle fast!
I suggest that you do your cardio exercise in the morning before breakfast because I want you to be burning fat calories when you exercise. I know this seems unusual, but if you eat before doing your cardio, you will be burning the calories from that meal and not body fat. This is one of the main reasons why many people do tons of cardio, but never lose any fat. I also recommend doing it in the morning because you will not have eaten for that eight hour period that you are asleep. Your muscles will have used up just about all of their glycogen (sugar used for energy) stores. Once this happens, your body turns to using stored body fat for fuel. You are more than welcome to exercise anytime you like, just do not eat 8-10 hours before.
The exercise I like the most for cardio is the stationary bike. It is no frills, straight to the point, and I can just be mindless while I do it — somedays that is the only free time that I have. You can do whatever you prefer. Runningburns the most calories, but that is not important. Anything that keeps your heart rate at the desired level for 30-45 minutes will do. Don't get caught up in how many calories you burn each session, because that is irrelevant. The point of doing cardio is not to see how many calories you can burn. You are already on a low calorie diet, so why would you want to burn off more? If you want fewer calories, just eat less!
The point of doing cardio is to increase your metabolism, which, in turn, causes you to burn more body fat. Studies have shown that your metabolism will remain elevated for up to 3 hours, after just 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, and for more than seven hours after 60 minutes of cardio1! That's why I do cardiovascular exercise.
It's best to do your aerobic exercise on non-weight training days, so you will be as strong as possible when training, but it is not absolutely necessary. If you can't do it on separate days, just space them as far apart as possible. For example, do cardio in the early morning and weight train in the afternoon or evening. I don't recommend doing cardio and weight training during the same session. With our fast metabolisms, it's murder on our muscle mass!
Spot Reducing
The next item that I would like to touch on is spot reducing. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, spot reducing is when you perform a particular exercise to help get rid of the fat in that specific area. For example, many people do an unnecessarily large number of sit-ups thinking that they will eventually burn off the fat in that area to reveal their six-pack.
Or they do side-bends with weights to get rid of their love handles, or choose to use the step machine thinking it will dissolve the cellulite around their lower body. You cannot do it. Spot reducing does not happen. The only way to lose body fat in those areas is to diet consistently. That's it. When you do, the fat will come from all areas. Unfortunately, it will usually come off of your most unsightly areas last. Typically for men the most difficult area from which to lose fat is the lower back and waist, while for women it is their upper thighs and buttocks. Go
figure.
The "ABS"olute Truth
No amount of weird exercises or machines will reveal your abs until you lose that layer of fat over them. The only way to do that is by consistent dieting and cardio. Period. All those odd hanging, leg twisting, body contorting exercises are no better than simple crunches. They will not make your abs suddenly appear like a bicep or a pec. Abs are not made in the gym, they are made in the kitchen. Diet, diet, diet.
From the Desk of A n t h o n y E l l i s
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