Lose The Fat Keep The Muscle

I get questions often from folks in the gym who want to lose body fat but are afraid of losing muscle. The truth is that it is inevitable that during the mass building phase, body fat will increase. But getting down to that ideal cut look is not impossible and you don't have to sacrifice hard earned muscle to do it.

Tips To Reducing Fat & Keeping Muscle

• Lift Heavy While Dieting. The common mistake that many people make is that they want to "lift for high reps" to tone the muscles. Tone is a result of having a low body fat percentage, not the type of lifting you are performing. The reason you want to continue to lift heavy and make strength gains is that you want to make sure your body holds on to that hard earned muscle. If you lift light for high reps, your body doesn't have any reason to keep that muscle mass.
• Burn The Fat Slowly. Give yourself time to get lean. Many people decide they want to get in shape two months before summer or a vacation. This is not very effective. The slower you reduce body fat, the less likely you will lose muscle mass. This makes sense because in order to lose body fat you need to eat less calories than what you burn and you need to perform a significant amount of cardio. In order to drop fat quickly, you have to go too low in calories to maintain the current amount of muscle you have. You will lose muscle mass. If you create a slight calorie deficit and lose only 1 to 2 pounds a week, you are much better off.
• Perform Interval Training. I've written already about how I favor interval training. Interval training is the most effective way to lose body fat without sacrificing muscle. To see the evidence, let's compare these two types of cardio in a real world situation. Sprinters have much more muscle than marathon runners. Sprinters perform a quick burst of effort, followed by a period of resting. Marathon runners train using the "slow and steady cardio" that is recommended by most trainers. When you alternate intense sprinting followed by a minute or so of a less intense effort, you will burn body fat while keeping that hard earned muscle.
• Eat Clean But Be Realistic. If you try to go too strict on your diet, you won't be able to maintain your diet for very long. I personally follow an 80% -20% rule where 80% of the time I eat really clean. The other 20% gives me a chance to blow off steam and eat a little junk.

Follow these few tips and you'll be sure to have that cut look while keeping those bulging biceps intact. Thanks for your ear and keep reading!