2 Simple Steps To Ripped
Summertime Muscles
Summer is on the horizon, and the time has come to kick back and relax under
the sun. It’s time for beach days, barbecues and pool parties, and for
any serious weightlifter these activities also mean one thing: it’s time
for the shirts to come off and to showcase that rock-solid physique they’ve
been working on all year. No one wants to be walking around with a soft, smooth
and flabby body, and for the next month or two, all of those serious lifters
will be shifting into “get ripped” mode.
How do they usually go about this?
They lighten up the weights and perform higher reps.
This has always been a widely accepted method of “cutting down”
and if you ask most trainers in the gym they’ll tell you that “heavy
weights bulk up the muscle and lighter weights define the muscle”.
Do you want to know the reality behind the “light weight and high reps”
method of obtaining a ripped and defined physique?
It is completely, totally and utterly DEAD WRONG.
It couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, there is no logical basis
for this way of training whatsoever, and whoever dreamt up this downright ridiculous
way of thinking has caused the vast majority of lifters to waste their time
and impede their progress in the gym.
Let me clear this up once and for all: you CANNOT spot reduce. In other words,
it is physically impossible to target fat loss from a specific area on your
body. Performing bench presses with light resistance and high repetitions will
not magically burn fat off of your chest or cause it to appear harder and more
defined.
Every single time you wrap your hands around a barbell, dumbbell or cable,
your goal is to stimulate as much muscle growth as you possibly can. There are
no special, secret weightlifting exercises that will “define” your
muscles or cause them to become more “ripped”.
Training with weights builds muscle mass, end of story.
So how exactly do you “define” a muscle?
The only way to “define” a muscle is by lowering your body fat
level in order to make your muscles more visible. Body fat reduction can be
achieved in two ways:
1) Modify your diet.
You should lower your overall caloric intake to around 15x your bodyweight
and focus on consuming smaller meals more frequently throughout the day. This
will keep your metabolism naturally raised at all times and will keep your body
in a constant fat burning state. Limit your intake of saturated fats and simple
sugars, and focus instead on consuming lean sources of protein and low glycemic
carbohydrates. It is also very important to keep your water intake high at a
level of around 0.6 ounces per pound of bodyweight.
2) Perform proper cardio workouts.
Let go of the traditional method of moderate intensity cardio in 30-45 minute
durations. If you want to maximize your body’s fat burning capacity and
also minimize the muscle loss that inevitably accompanies a fat burning cycle,
focus on shorter cardio workouts performed at a high level of intensity. These
types of workouts will shoot your resting metabolism through the roof and will
allow you to burn maximum amounts of fat even when you are at rest. I recommend
3-5 high intensity cardio sessions per week, spaced at least 8 hours away from
your weight workouts.
That’s all there is to it, folks. Take the notion of “light weight
and higher reps” and throw it right out the window, down the street and
around the corner. Following this misguided method will only cause you to lose
muscle mass and strength, and will not assist you in burning fat or defining
your physique.
All you need to do to mold those rock-solid muscles for the summer time is
this:
1) Train with heavy weights and low repetitions to build maximum muscle mass.
2) Modify your diet and implement cardio workouts to eliminate body fat and
create visibly harder and more defined muscles.
End of story.
I’ll see you at the beach!
About The Author
Sean Nalewanyj is a bodybuilding expert, fitness author and writer of top-selling
Internet Bodybuilding E-Book: The Truth About Building Muscle. If you want to
learn how to build maximum lean muscle mass and strength as quickly as possible,
visit his website: Muscle
Gain Truth
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