Building Muscle and Shedding Fat

When looking to make a change in their body, most people opt for either shedding fat, or building muscle. It's definitely possible to do both, but it involves a lot of patience and careful planning. The main thing to remember is to maintain a solid balance between your cardio and weight sessions. In addition to this you have to remember to eat right (this doesn't matter as much if you have a relatively low body fat content. To do something as extreme as this definitely requires a huge lifestyle change, but if you're truly passionate about reaching your goals then you'll be willing to change your approach for the best results. Some may disagree that its impossible to shed fat without losing muscle; while this may be true in some cases, in my own case I've found that its possible to maintain your muscle and gain some whilst shedding your fat. I've decided that instead of outlining vague principles for people to interpret themselves - I'm just going to outline the plan that I'm sticking to at the moment with some nutritional advice and hopefully some of you may trust me enough to give it a try, especially if you're looking for goals similar to mine. The whole idea behind this plan is to gain lean muscle rather than just bulk and then have to go through the 'cutting' stage and also if you've got a higher fat content - it cuts fat off like no other plan that I've tried. 

The whole premise for my muscle gain plan came from a workout split that I found from Terry Crews' Expendables workout; however only the split itself has been lifted from there. The exercises themselves have been chosen by myself. I also use what he refers to as 'The 24s' to warm up rather than cardio. This is purely because I now separate my cardio and weight training completely, allowing my body to focus on one goal at a time. With regards to my cardio, mine usually comes in the form of high intensity cardio through boxing on two evenings a week, and two hours of hockey - therefore I make sure to get my weight training done early in the day, and perform my cardio in the evenings. Anyway, enough of the introductions - lets get down to the plan itself!

24's Warmup - Perform this warm up before every session. Treat these exercises as a circuit, perform 6 reps on each exercise before moving on to the next. Maximum of one minute between circuits - perform all with a straight bar (begin with a low weight if you have to, make sure you're getting the correct form. You can find this warm up on Youtube in Terry Crews' Expendables workout. 

Upright Row

Clean and Press

Romanian Deadlift

Jump Squats

Monday - Shoulders

Alternating Dumbbell Front and Lateral Raises - 3 sets, 12 reps (Where 1 rep is considered the combination of both the Lateral and front raise)

Dumbbell Shoulder Press - 3 sets, rep to failure

Dumbbell Shrugs - 3 sets, 15-20 reps

Bent Over Low-Pulley Side Lateral - 3 Sets, Failure

Rear Delt Flyes - 3 Sets, Failure

Barbell Upright Row (EZ Curl Bar) - 3 Sets, Failure

Evening Cardio - Boxing

Tuesday - Back and Arms

Barbell Row - 4 Sets, Failure

Lat Pulldown - 4 Sets, Failure

Hammer Strength Row - 3 sets, 12 reps

Wide Grip Pull Ups - 3 Sets, 10 Reps

Incline Prone Row on Bench (Dumbbells) - 3 Sets, 12 reps

Bicep Curls - 3 Drop sets, Failure

Tricep Pushdowns - 3 Drop Sets, Failure

Hammer Curls - 2 Sets, 12 Reps

Evening Cardio - Hockey

Wednesday - Strictly Cardio Day (Boxing)

Thursday - Chest and Arms

Bench Press (Normal Grip) - 3 Sets, Failure

Wide Grip Bench Press - 1 Set, Failure

Incline Bench Press - 1 Set, Failure

Decline Bench Press - 1 Set, Failure

Chest Flyes Machine - 3 Sets, 12 reps

Press Ups - 2 Sets - 20 reps

Close Hand Press Ups - 2 sets, 15 reps

Tricep Extensions (Machine) - 3 Sets, 12 reps

Bicep Curls - 3 Drop sets, failure

Tricep Pushdowns - 3 Drop sets, failure

Friday - Legs

Squats with Barbell - 4 sets to failure, increasing weight with each set

Bent Legged Deadlifts - 4 Sets to failure

Calf Raise Machine - 3 sets to failure

Leg Press - 3 Sets, failure

Leg extension machine - 2 sets, failure

Leg curl machine - 2 sets, failure

Hack Squat (Machine) - 2 sets to failure, increase weight each set

Okay, so that's the breakdown of my workout split so far. I get almost all of my core training from the 24's warmup, big compound exercises and mostly boxing. I also like to throw in some core work at the end of a workout, possibly through a Plank, incline situps, roll outs etc. Feel free to add those in at your own discretion. With regard to nutrition; I still intermittently fast once a week, whilst keeping my calories low on another day. The other days of the week I basically try to keep my calories well within 1750 and try to keep my fat levels as low as possible. I now mostly eat a lot of veg (broccoli, carrots, onion etc.), Different types of fruit, Cous Cous as my main carbohydrate, chicken as my main source of protein, eggs, and of course a protein shake after every heavy session. I try not to live by a strict eating plan, I just try to monitor the things that I eat, and so far it has seemed to pay off. Basically the best advice that I can give anyone is just to get smart about the foods that you're eating, work out what the healthier foods are; and eat the things that you prefer from that list. Also, make sure that you're keeping your water intake high every day. 

Well I hope that this information has been useful to someone and I welcome any feedback whatsoever that people have to give. It would also help if people do decide to try this plan if they let me know and compare notes with myself as its a plan that I'll be sticking to for a few more weeks. If you want to get in touch with me you can either leave a comment under this post, find me on Twitter - @Wrighty__ or even find me on Facebook - www.facebook.com/Wrightyx. Please don't hesitate to get back to me with any feedback, even if its about another post or just the blog in general, I love hearing from people about this blog! Until next time, 

Keep Testing The Limits

Alex.