Get RIPPED For Summer

Summer is right around the corner. Will this be another year you're embarrassed to take your shirt off around the opposite sex? Or will this be the year you become the strong, ripped freak you have the potential to become?

If you're like me, you'd prefer the latter. Most of you reading this would. So why not actually make it happen this year?

For those of you who have a burning desire to make it happen, I'm here to show you the way!

If you've read my previous post, you know how I feel about big, heavy compound lifts. They are a must for any lifter (considering there are no pre-existing injuries). As I mentioned earlier, exercises like the squat and deadlift are not only essential for building muscle but for burning fat as well. This is due to several reasons.

The first is that when these exercises are done right, they are extremely calorically challenging. A heavy squat session will burn way more calories than any stairmaster could, if you're working hard.

Next is that these movements will rapidly produce your natural levels of anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone, which will help burn body fat on their own.

Finally, because of the anabolic effect of these exercises you will put on more muscle. Essentially the more muscle you have the faster your metabolism will work and you'll burn more body fat at rest.

Talk about the biggest bang for your buck! Stop wasting time on machines and start throwing around some serious weight!

Next, I want to discuss conditioning. That's right, not cardio, conditioning. The difference is "cardio" refers to light to moderate intensity on a treadmill or elliptical. These machines will do nothing for your anaerobic capacity (which I'll explain in more detail in future posts). Simply put, you can burn some fat by using machines but you won't benefit from any real conditioning effect. So you might look pretty but will only have about the same stamina as Bob Barker in a game of pick-up basketball. Not very impressive in my opinion.

In addition, machines are boring and suck to do.

So what do you do to condition you ask?

Sprint. First and foremost.

Sprinting will burn fat and build muscle. Jogging won't so don't confuse the two. If getting faster is important to you, keep your sprints 40 yards or less. If you're strictly going for the fat loss/conditioning effect, you can work up to 100 yard sprints. Either way sprinting in general will burn fat, fast! To change it up sprint up a hill or set of bleachers. Keep your sessions short and intense (20-40 minutes including warm-up) and make sure to take a proper warm-up prior to your session.

Sprints however, shouldn't be your only source of conditioning. Try jumping rope or putting together some body weight curcuits. Check out the quick curcuit below as an example.

1a) Jump rope x's 100 turns

1b) Mountain climbers x's 20

1c) Burpees x's 10

You can start of with 5-8 rounds of this with little to no rest and get a great conditioning workout. As you get more conditioned add more exercises, reps, etc. Try putting your own curcuit together. Get creative. You can do them on off days from weight training or as a finisher after a hard session.

As far as your training goes, don't get sucked into the hype of super high volume with minimal weight on the bar. You should strive to get stronger in the gym. Otherwise you will lose a shit load of muscle. I don't believe that is anyone's goal reading this post. To quote my mentor John Alvino, "If you train to lose fat, you'll lose muscle. If you train to gain muscle, you'll lose fat".

Something else you can add to your training is alternating sets. For example, you can do a set of a pull exercise for every push exercise you do. Or, if you're following a full body program you can do an upper body exercise followed by a lower body exercise and so on. There is no need to rest 5 minutes in between sets. Alternating sets will speed up your workouts, burn more calories and create more of a conditioning effect.

Keep your intensity high and your sessions short. Get strong!

Finally, you have to diet. Cut out all sugar and flour and eat clean, healthy foods. Don't get sucked into bullshit fad diets. You shouldn't feel tired, weak or sick while dieting. You should have MORE energy and feel great. If you don't then you probably need some more food.

Base your diet on lean proteins, unprocesseed carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, salads and healthy fats such as nuts, nut butters and coconut oil. Drink at least half of your body weight in ounces of water daily and try to limit your coffee to two cups a day for all you coffee drinkers.

So there it is. Don't look for the latest fad diet or training program. Keep things simple. Train hard and heavy, condition and follow a well balanced meal plan. Things don't always have to be so overly complicated.

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Thanks for reading and keep working hard!