Who doesn’t want to be lean? Lean enough to see a full six-pack, to be able to see veins in your arms and the detail of each muscle standing out like a walking anatomy chart? You might already have relatively low body fat – especially compared to the average non-exerciser, but most of us want more than that – we want to be freakily lean, ripped and shredded, like the models in Ultra-fit Magazine!
Getting that lean isn’t easy but, if you follow my advice it’s a realistic goal. You’re going to have to be organised, dedicated, strict and determined but if you follow these guidelines, you’ll be on you way to not just getting really lean but staying that way too.
1) Diet. If your diet isn’t nailed down tight then no amount of exercise will get you lean. I favour a diet high in protein, vegetables and fruit, moderate amounts of low G.I. unrefined carbohydrates like whole grains, sweet potatoes, oatmeal etc, moderate amounts of Omega 3 & 6 essential fats, and very low amounts of sugar, refined grains and processed foods. And remember the nutritional law of proximity & possession – if you have junk food in your house, it will get eaten sooner or later so avoid dietary pit falls by having a junk food free kitchen!
Try to eat food in it’s most natural state, vegetables and fruits in as raw as possible to preserve their nutrient content and make sure every one of your 4 – 6 meals consumed each day contains protein, plus fruit or vegetables. Don’t forget to consume plenty of fluids – preferably water but diet soda is okay now and then.
Consistency is the key with nutrition – the best diet in the world will still fail if you can’t stick to it 24/7.
2) Resistance Training. To lose fat, we have to consume fewer calories than usual to force our bodies to burn our “spare tyre and muffin tops” for fuel. Unfortunately when the body thinks it’s being starved, it actually prefers to save fat in favour of using muscle for energy. Major bummer! This phenomenon, the “Starvation Response”, is the body’s way of surviving during periods of famine. Our marvellous, amazing bodies have no idea you are voluntarily eating less to “look good naked” and makes the incorrect assumption that you are starving. The body attempts to make its fat stores last longer by lowering your metabolism and ditching your hard won muscle. To cut a very long story short, to preserve muscle in times of reduced energy consumption we need to perform regular resistance training. Forget the “high reps for cutting” nonsense spouted by numerous arm chair experts and train for strength – heavy weights, compound exercises, and multiple sets of low to moderate reps (4 – 8 max) Keep your workouts at around an hour or less to minimize the potential for over training and, if possible, perform your exercises as upper body/lower body supersets e.g. squats supersetted with bench press. This system increases the intensity of your workout, keeps your heart rate elevated (important for burning fat) and makes the most of your gym time so you’ll have plenty of time left over to do some interval training after your resistance training, which we’ll cover next time.
Integrated Circuit Training isn’t new – boxers and martial artists have been using it for years but it’s now becoming more popular as a training method in other sports. In this article we’ll explain what it is and why it will benefit you and we’ll also provide you with some sample workouts to get you started.
