From Swole to Ripped: How To Transform From Heavyweight To Classic

CAN I USE BODYBUILDING FOR WEIGHT LOSS?

When you build muscle mass, your muscles actually gobble up calories from your food to maintain themselves. This leaves fewer excess calories lying around, turning into fat. You become pumped up and looking bigger than normal, i.e. swole. Being swole has its downsides. Finding clothes that fit correctly, not being able to stretch as far as you normally were able to… Muscular people easily fall into wrongly believing they are healthy when in fact they are emotionally starved. Being swole by the way is not fitness. Fitness is the physical equivalent of will power over free will. Being muscular is simply a side benefit of having advanced fitness life skills… So, if you want to be healthy and at the same time have muscle relief, this article will help you to become ripped.

In fact, if you lower your calorie intake just a little bit, your new muscle mass will eat up some of your body fat. There’s a delicate balance that you need to strike here, though, because if you cut your caloric intake too dramatically, your muscles will shrink and your body might feel threatened by starvation and begin to store extra fat, as a precaution.

Bodybuilding is the best way to lose weight safely and permanently. But all this provided that the training will be regular. After all, bodybuilding is a lifestyle, not a quick solution to weight loss issues.

Although your weight loss goals may not be as extreme as those of professional bodybuilders, you can still use bodybuilding to lose weight and use the same principles: lose weight in a very fast, but safe manner. Also, by practicing bodybuilding, you will acquire a strong and healthy appearance (due to the increase in muscle mass).

As for the issue of getting muscles that will prevent weight loss. The answer depends on your view of things. If you are interested in losing weight, then yes, when building muscle mass, you will not be able to get rid of unwanted weight as quickly as you would like. However, you should consider the following:

The weight that you are interested in losing is fat weight, not muscle weight. Every time you gain a kilo of muscles, your metabolism (the rate at which the body burns calories) increases. This, in turn, will help you get rid of excess fat much faster because your body will daily require more calories to maintain its current weight. So, despite the slow scale of weight loss (because you are gaining muscle mass), the amount of fat will decrease much faster!

BODYBUILDING SLIMMING PROGRAM

Bodybuilding consists of two equally important components: training and nutrition. If you have never done bodybuilding before, take a look at the section “Bodybuilding for Beginners”. There you can find the necessary materials for beginners, which will help to get on the right path. As soon as you get to the level of “cultivating”, here is the training program, which you will follow further:

We will devote three days a week to strength training and three more days a week to aerobic exercise. Then we will have one day off. For example, you can conduct weight training on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, plus 30 minutes of aerobics on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. In this case, Sunday is a free day. Remember that you can customize the training plan as you want, but the above option is the most common.

Now let’s get down to the program itself, which, by the way, you can do at home only with a pair of adjustable dumbbells. To not spend a lot of time on training and have time to meet in 30 minutes, you need to move very quickly. We will use tri-sets to get the adrenaline rush and also save time. Thus, we will not only tighten the muscles and gain strength but also we will have a good load on the cardiovascular system. Tri sets are three exercises that are performed one after another without rest between them. After the third (last exercise in the tri-set), you should rest for 1 minute and start the cycle again. Once you have completed all the prescribed approaches, go to the next tri-set. One approach is one cycle for all 3 exercises.

Following this program, you will be amazed by the results. You will also understand that not much is needed to get yourself in shape (there is no need for expensive equipment). You need only determination and willpower to succeed. Do not forget that training is only half the equation, and nutrition is the other half. So make sure that you follow a diet for beginners in bodybuilding.

HIGH-INTENSITY TRAINING FOR QUICK FAT LOSS

Start with walking and working with small weights, if you have not practiced for a long time. Increase the volume and intensity of your program gradually.

Monday

• Cardio (running on a stadium or treadmill, cycling, elliptical trainer, etc.) 60-90 minutes at 60-85 percent of your maximum

Tuesday

• Training with weights (1-3 sets of 10 repetitions, the total number of exercises is not more than 8-10 for all major muscle groups)

Wednesday

• Interval training (six 200-meter sprints with 90 percent of maximum effort, rest three minutes between sprints, or 10 one-minute sprints on an elliptical trainer, with one minute of rest between intervals).
• Cardio, 45 minutes at 60-85 percent of the maximum

Thursday: Rest

Friday

• Training with weights (1-3 sets of 10 repetitions, the total number of exercises is not more than 8-10 for all major muscle groups)
• Cardio, 45 minutes at 60-85 percent of the maximum.

Saturday

• Interval training (six 200-meter sprints at 90 percent of maximum effort, rest three minutes between sprints, or 10 one-minute sprints on an elliptical trainer, with one minute of rest between intervals).
• Cardio, 45 minutes at 60-85 percent of the maximum.

Sunday: Rest

MISTAKES WHEN GETTING RIPPED

Mistake #1: Too much cardio

Weight training can, and will, help you get leaner, and cardio can actually have a negative impact on body composition (percent body fat), as too much of it creates a catabolic (muscle-wasting) environment in the body, which slows metabolism. In the presence of adequate protein and carbohydrate consumption, lifting will help build muscle.

Mistake #2: Too much-specialized training

If your current lifting program isn’t producing the ripped results you’re after, take a close look at the exercises you’re doing. If you’re doing set after set of single-joint exercises, this could very well be your problem, specifically, chest routines that are heavy on flies and cable crossovers instead of presses and leg workouts where leg extensions take precedent over squats and lunges.

Mistake #3: Not enough heavy lifting

The cardio burns more fat than lifting. High-rep sets increase muscular endurance, but not necessarily fat-burning. You can actually get more ripped training in the 8-12-rep range, as this is what’s been identified as the best rep count for adding muscular size. Where muscle mass increases, so do metabolism.

GETTING RIPPED WITH PROPER NUTRITION

Tip #1: Lower your calorie intake

Keep your diet in check to make sure that you’re not consuming more calories than you’re burning. The simplest and most effective way to do this is to record the approximate number of calories you take in with each meal.

• The number of calories you should be eating will vary from person to person, and depends largely on your body weight and composition (people with more muscle mass need more calories to maintain it), activity level, and other factors.
• Use a nutrition app (such as My Fitness Pal, My Diet Coach or Lose It!) or an old-fashioned journal to record the number of calories you consume on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to make sure you’re on track to meet your goals.

Tip #2: Eat high protein, low-fat foods

Reconfigure your personal food pyramid so that foods that are rich in protein comprise a bigger part of your diet. At the same time, drastically cut down on greasy, high-fat foods, or eliminate them altogether. High-fat foods are richer with calories, meaning it won’t take much of them to sabotage your nutrition plan. Lean, protein-packed foods, however, contain few calories on average. Their protein content will help you build valuable, calorie-incinerating muscle mass, as well as keep you feeling full longer.

• Get your protein from sources like lean meats, eggs, beans, tofu, nuts, etc. Stay away from fried foods, chips, and other snack foods.
• A good general guideline is to get at least 1 gram of protein for every 2 pounds of your bodyweight: if you weigh 150lbs, for instance, you should aim for around 75g of protein a day.
• Supplementing with protein bars or shakes can help you meet your daily protein needs without requiring you to eat every couple of hours.

Tip #3: Choose natural, whole food options

Ditch the fast food, TV dinners, and other processed junk and stick to fresh, natural foods. Whole grains, green leafy vegetables, raw nuts, and fresh fruit should all be staples of your overhauled diet. They’re full of the macronutrients your body craves and uses to build a ripped, strong physique. They’re also devoid of chemical preservatives and other unknowns which can make it hard for your body to digest and break down food for energy.

Tip #4: Limit sweets

Now is the time to give up candy, donuts, and other tempting confections. Nothing stalls fat-burning progress faster than sugar-laden foods. While sugar is useful for a provided instant, short-term energy, most of it ends up stored as fatty tissue if it’s not used for fuel immediately. For best results, keep your sugar intake down to or below about 50g per day. If you must have something sweet, opt for a ripe banana, a handful of wild berries, or a filling snack like Greek yogurt with a drizzle of raw honey.

Tip #5: Stay hydrated

Drink plenty of water throughout the day, especially during intense exercise to replenish what is lost through perspiration. Every cell in your body contains water, so needless to say it’s vital for proper growth and function. You’ll feel more energetic when you’re adequately hydrated, and water can even help curb your appetite when you start getting cravings for unhealthy foods.

• Water should replace sodas, sports drinks, alcohol, and other beverages that are filled with carbohydrates from sugar.

Anyone who takes the time to exercise and eat right, track their calories, and monitor their body composition can succeed in getting ripped. It’s all just a matter of discipline and priorities!