Build Muscle & Maintain Low Body Fat
A reader asks…
How does one build muscle while maintaining a low body fat percentage?
I simply don’t understand how individuals accomplish this outside of awesome genetics. I got my bodyfat down to 9% this past summer, but I sacrificed muscle mass in the process. How can I build muscle while retaining a low bodyfat percentage?
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3 Responses to Build Muscle & Maintain Low Body Fat
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Get a set of Bodylastics resistance bands and get free workouts.
You have to exercise regularly while decreasing you fat intake, and increasing your protein intake.
This is one of the hardest things and well kept "secrets" of the bodybuilding world.
1. Stay away from weight gaining powders – how much muscle do you think you can build from low quality protein a HUGE amount of sugar anyway?
2. Eat WHOLE food sources mostly. Tuna, chicken, beef (extra lean) etc are great. You can "fill in" some spots with some protein shakes if you need to though
3. Don’t do so much cardio. Don’t get me wrong, cardio helps. But when you eat 500 calories above your daily requirement so as to build muscle, then burn off 700 calories from cardio, you’re not really ahead.
4. Train in the morning. I get up at 5:45 AM Monday-Friday so I can weight train for 45 mins-1 hour. Not only is your weight training out of the way for the day (so you’re less likely to skip it) but this will keep your metabolism going all day long (did you know weight lifting makes you burn fat 2 or 3 times longer than cardio?)
5. If you are gaining, then do some cardio on your non weight days. High Intensity Interval Training works awesome. Just Google "HIIT" to see what I mean,
6. Be careful of your carbs! Did you know that Whole Wheat bread isn’t much better than white? That’s because the grain is finely ground up that your body absorbs it super quickly. If you can get "stone milled or stone ground" whole wheat bread that is great, because it isn’t as finely ground. Your best option is wholemeal rye bread though if you can find it for carbs.
7. Know your body fat and KEEP TRACK OF IT. You need to know if you’ve gained or lost fat, the mirror can be deceiving!
8. You hear everyone saying "eat 1g of protein per pounf of bodyweight". So would a 200 lbs guy with 34% bodyfat eat the same amount of protein as a 200 lbs guy with 6% bodyfat. The logical answer is no. Eat about 1.1-1.2 g per pound of LEAN bodyweight. In other words, find out your bodyfat percentage and subtract that from your total weight to get your lean weight.
9. And last, stay committed! Too many guys give up too easy when only a simple adjustment is needed.
These are just some basic guidelines. If you want a specific routine for your workout and your food needs, Try this program, it worked wonders for me (I’m 200lbs at 9% bodyfat and I was 220lbs at 21%).
http://www.shreddedandripped.com/musclehead