2 Simple Steps To
Ripped Summertime Muscles
By Sean Nalewanyj
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. Learn the honest truth about building maximum muscle in
minimum time by visiting his website: http://www.MuscleGainTruth.com
Article
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