Exercising for Fat Loss & Muscle Gain
Do resistance training 3–4 times a week, targeting 2–3 muscle groups per session. Start with a traditional bodybuilding split so that at the end of the week, you’ve hit every major muscle group (legs, back, core, chest, shoulders, arms, etc.). If you’re working out at home, bodyweight exercises such as push ups, pull ups, air squats, and crunches will do just fine. It may seem counterintuitive, but training your muscles actually burns more calories in the long run than spending hours on the treadmill. Hit all of the important muscle groups during the week rather than just emphasizing showy muscles, like the abs and biceps. Take 2–3 days off per week to rest and give your body a chance to recover. Exercises like squats and lunges, rows, dips, and shoulder presses that call for a high level of coordination are all excellent for building muscle in different parts of the body. The body constantly uses up calories to maintain muscle tissue, even in a resting state. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you’ll be burning at a given time.
Build strength by performing 4–5 sets of 5–10 reps per exercise. Since you’ll be in a reduced calorie state from dieting, too much volume in the gym can actually break down muscle without receiving enough nutrients to repair it. Keeping your volume in check while building and maintaining quality muscle mass is all about shifting your focus from endurance to strength. Your weight training sessions should be relatively brief (no more than about an hour) and emphasize the major compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, and bench presses).
Hit your core throughout the week for defined abs. Dedicate part of each workout to strengthening and building your core muscles. This could make up the last fifteen minutes of your weight training sessions, or you could add 1 or 2 dedicated core sessions each week. Do ab-focused exercises like weighted sit ups, crunches, leg lifts, planches, and suitcase carries. For most people, a ripped physique is synonymous with rippling obliques and a chiseled, defined 6-pack. The more your train the muscles of the mid and lower abdomen, the more prominent they will be once you begin to lean out. You will also receive some residual core work from the compound lifts you're performing to develop your strength and muscle mass (particularly squats and deadlifts). Localized core training will make the ab muscles more noticeable, but to really start looking ripped, work out your entire body, get a few hours of cardio each week, and stick to a reduced-calorie diet. 80% of achieving a lean physique lies in nutrition. EXPERT TIP Julian Arana, M.S.eD., NCSF-CPT Julian Arana, M.S.eD., NCSF-CPT Certified Personal Trainer Julian Arana is a Personal Trainer and the Founder of B-Fit Training Studios, a personal training and wellness set of studios based in Miami, Florida. Julian has over 12 years of personal training and coaching experience. He is a certified personal trainer (CPT) by the National Council on Strength and Fitness (NCSF). He has a BS in Exercise Physiology from Florida International University and an MS in Exercise Physiology specializing in strength and conditioning from the University of Miami. Julian Arana, M.S.eD., NCSF-CPT Julian Arana, M.S.eD., NCSF-CPT Certified Personal Trainer Our Expert Agrees: If you're trying to strengthen your core, try ab exercises like hanging knee raises, deadbugs, and cable-weighted cable crunches. However, when it comes to having visible abs, the goal is to get leaner by following a balanced diet and eating at a caloric deficit.
Do no more than a few hours of cardiovascular exercise each week. This can include jogging, swimming, cycling, rowing, kickboxing, or even simply walking. While resistance training creates a lasting calorie burning effect at rest, cardiovascular training gets you into a consistent fat-burning rhythm. Done together, the two will display great results in no time. Try finishing your weight training workouts with 20 minutes of moderate-to-intense cardio. You will have already used up the glycogen in your muscles while lifting weights, so your body will go straight to its fat stores for energy. Or, experiment with doing cardio in a fasted state (when you’ve had nothing to eat). For example, go on a short jog first thing in the morning before you eat breakfast. Keep the intensity and length of the workout moderate. Again, with no muscle glycogen to draw from for fuel, you’ll burn pure fat while you exert yourself. A rest day from lifting makes for a great cardio-focused day. Keep your heart rate elevated, but don’t torture yourself. It’s more important to find a pace and intensity that you can keep up for the duration of the workout.
Push yourself with metabolically challenging workouts, like a HIIT session. A couple times a week, set aside time for a quick Tabata or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) session. These workouts don’t take long, but are extremely taxing and can make a big impact on your fat stores. Doing HIIT and other difficult programming methods are known to be metabolically dense, meaning they rev up the mechanisms that burn fat for energy and melt the pounds right off. HIIT programs and similar exercise methods are usually offered at fitness centers in the form of group classes. Tabata-style workouts are done by performing an exercise for 20 seconds, then taking 10 seconds rest. Repeat this sequence 8 times. The entire workout only takes 4 minutes, but you get a ton of bang for your buck. Apps like Tabata Timer and Tabata Stopwatch Pro make it easy to keep track of your activity and rest intervals using your smartphone. HIIT training involves exercising with a high pace or intensity for a preselected period of time (an “interval”), then dropping the intensity for a short interval before ramping it back up again.
Leaning Out with Proper Nutrition
Lower your calorie intake so you’re operating in a calorie deficit and losing fat. As long as your net calorie loss through exercise is greater than your intake through eating, you’ll continue to get leaner and more shredded. Record the approximate number of calories you take in with each meal to track your progress. When trying to shed fat, it’s best to reduce your daily calories (without skipping meals!) while receiving all the necessary nutrients and preserving lean muscle. The number of calories you need will vary 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. Generally, cutting 500 calories a day from your usual diet will result in losing ½ to 1 pound (0.23 to 0.45 kg) of fat per week. Talk to your doctor or a nutritionist if you decide to put yourself on a reduced-calorie diet. An expert will be able to tell you exactly how many calories you'll need to maintain a healthy body composition for your size, age, and activity level. They can also provide you with helpful recommendations for food and supplementation. 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.
Eat high-protein, low-fat foods to preserve your muscle mass. Reconfigure your personal food pyramid so that protein-rich foods 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. A good starting point is to get about 30% of your calories from protein, 40% from carbs, and 40% from fat. Get your protein from sources like lean meats, eggs, beans, tofu, and nuts. 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 (0.9 kg) of your body weight. If you weigh 150 pounds (68 kg), 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.
Limit processed carbohydrates and up your fiber intake. Carbs are your body’s preferred energy source, and you’ll need them to power your workouts. However, overly processed carbs (like sugary snacks or baked goods with white flour) can cause easy weight gain. So, get most of your carbs from unprocessed sources like potatoes, veggies, quinoa, rice, fruit, and oats instead of processed breads, pastas, and other snacks. Aim for about 1–1.5 grams of carbs per 1 pound (0.45 kg) of bodyweight. At the same time, add more fiber to your diet with carbs like oatmeal, whole grains, sweet potatoes, beans and lentils, bulgar, and figs. For quick boosts of energy, it’s OK to eat some processed or sugary carbs right before or after a workout. Just don’t make a habit of munching on these all day long.
Choose natural, whole food options whenever possible. 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. Organic foods can be a little more expensive, but they’re worth the benefits they offer you. Each meal will leave you feeling satisfied. Do your shopping and meal preparation in advance. That way you’ll know exactly what’s in the food you eat and you’ll be better able to keep track of calories and other nutrients. Having food on hand when you get hungry will keep you from seeking out unhealthy options.
Limit sweets and added sugars. 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 instant, short-term energy, most of it ends up stored as fatty tissue if it’s not used immediately. For the 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. Be careful with the amount of bottled juices and even fresh fruit you consume. While it’s better to get your sugar from natural sources, it can add up after a while. Examine food packaging closely at the supermarket. Even non-dessert foods are often saturated with sugar.
Lifestyle Changes for a Shredded Physique
Aim to get 7–8 hours of sleep per night whenever possible. Your body repairs itself and builds new tissue while at rest. This is when the muscle mass you’ve been working so hard to pack on will begin developing. Getting a good night’s sleep will also help you recover from fatigue, injury, and soreness and leave you feeling refreshed and ready for your next workout. Turn off the TV, stereo, phone, tablet, and any other electronic distractions when you go to bed to ensure that you fall into a deep, restful sleep. If you have trouble getting enough uninterrupted sleep at night, try taking a nap for 20–30 minutes in the afternoon or whenever you have time.
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 it’s vital for proper growth and function. You’ll feel more energetic when you’re adequately hydrated and water can 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. As a general rule, you should drink when you feel thirsty. Try to get at least 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids a day (men) or 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids a day (women). When you use the restroom, your urine should be very light in color or clear.
Drink black coffee and green tea. Put on a pot of coffee when you first wake up, or unwind at night with a steaming mug of organic green tea. Coffee beans and tea leaves are renowned for their antioxidant properties, which reduce inflammation in the body, fight age-related illness, and obesity. The caffeine and other components of tea and coffee have even been observed to have a slight thermogenic effect, meaning that sipping them can actually help you destroy fat cells. Leave the cream and sugar out of your coffee and/or tea. This just adds unneeded calories.
Try intermittent fasting 1–2 times a week. Fasting periodically works to suppress your appetite and reset your body’s natural hormone levels. Plus, since you aren’t eating, you’ll be burning calories all that time, giving you an advantage when it comes to staying in a caloric deficit. Try having breakfast as usual, then not eating again for 8–10 hours. Alternatively, begin fasting as soon as you wake up and eat your first meal around mid-afternoon or early evening. Fasting is safe as long as it doesn’t turn into starvation. Eat at least one substantial meal on fasting days to break the fast. High-protein, moderate-fat and carbohydrate meals are perfect for this purpose. Sit down with a physician or nutritionist before experimenting with intermittent fasting. Discuss which nutrient timing schedules and frequencies would be most advantageous for you. Fasting may not be a beneficial practice for everyone, especially those with hormone or metabolic disorders.
Reduce your stress to aid fat loss and reduce cravings. When you’re stressed out, you may feel hungrier and crave snacks, which hampers your fat loss goals. Stress also releases the hormone cortisol, which contributes to fat accumulation (especially in your abdomen). Exercising is a great way to reduce stress, especially when paired with activities like: Meditating Journaling or going for walks Maintaining a healthy work-life balance Doing breathing exercises
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