Losing The Love Handles In 6 Weeks July 8th 2013 by Darin George You work hard for the muscle. You lift heavy. You eat big. You sleep by the clock and you take all of your supplements religiously. Slowly but surely, you have started to see the gains you’ve waited so long for. There’s just one problem. Along the way, you somehow managed to accumulate some added body fat in the course of making your gains. You added muscle – but there is fat and water there as well. You’re puffy on the side and while you dread using the word “love handles”, you know that something desperately needs to be done if you are going to someday soon display the newly built muscle to the world. Knowing where to begin when it comes to getting lean can be difficult. Many lifters are tempted to just radically reduce their calories one day. Or they’ll devote 2 hours each day to cardio suddenly. Or, they’ll keep everything the same and just pile on the ECA stack or other supplements. Often, it’s even a combination of these three factors. The result is a situation where the pounds do fall off drastically – in the form of muscle mass! You’ve worked way too long and hard to lose your muscle mass now. You have to do things in a carefully planned and orderly manner in order to make the changes you want, in the fastest way possible. If you do things right, you should be able to slice off most of the new fat in about 6 weeks. You can go beyond that and go to 6 or 7% body fat with a longer diet if you’d like. Let’s take a look at those first 6 weeks with some adjustments you can make now – to see changes fast! First off, you need to take a very close look at your current diet. Cut out the sugars, fats, and processed flour that you are eating each week. Bump up your proteins. Drink more water. Add plenty of leafy green vegetables, but keep the higher sugar fruits to a minimum. You’ll quickly see that you really don’t have to change that many things to see a radical difference. Rather, you make slow and gradual changes to your overall diet by removing those foods which are working against your goals of getting lean. Then, the results arrive on their own! Now, it’s time to adjust your cardiovascular exercise. Or, if you’re not currently doing any at all, then it’s time to add some! You don’t have to dedicate two hours each day to cardio, and you don’t have to run bleachers like you see on television commercials. You just need to take a common sense approach to adding more moderate activity to your weekly schedule. For most people just looking to shed fat, 4 to 5 sessions each week will suffice. You’ll want to use elliptical, treadmill or stair stepper for 25 to 40 minutes each session, and keep the intensity moderate. You should be sweating and experiencing an elevated heart rate, but you shouldn’t be at the point of collapse – which would cost you muscle. You’d always prefer more time with less intensity, then less time with greater intensity, when it comes to cardiovascular exercise. Let’s examine your current weight workout that you use each week. If you’re going all-out heavy with the compound lifts, then you’re doing things right. However, you will want to add a few sets to each workout in which you will use a bit less weight, and go for a few more repetitions. Moving up to the 12 to 20 reps per set zone will stimulate those slow-twitch muscle fibers which typically lie dormant during your training with the heavy iron. Triggering them for use means more muscle stimulation and retention, and results in you keeping more of that muscle (and adding greater definition) as the pounds start to fall off. Are you currently using supplements? A nice cutting phase is the ideal time to add a fat burner to the mix. There are a wealth of compounds you can try, readily available at your local vitamin store or favorite bodybuilding website. Or, if you prefer, you can always build a simple ECA stack to use for the duration of your 6-week cutting phase. Implementing it is simple. Combine 200 mg caffeine, 350 mg aspirin, and 25 mg ephedrine (Bronkaid, purchased at any pharmacy). Take these three pills immediately upon waking, then again around noon. You should limit your use to 2 days on, 1 day off. You’ll notice a fast metabolic bump, an increase in energy, a reduction in appetite, and an overall aggression for training (despite your being in a reduced caloric state) that will help you to get through the long cardio sessions. Halt usage of the ECA stack once you’ve reached your 6-week goal of shedding the love handles. It is not a supplement that should be used year-round, or during your muscle building phase. Finally, you should work to sleep well and reduce as much stress as possible during this phase. You’re in a tough spot right now. You’re demanding more of your body with the higher rep training and added cardio sessions, but you’re giving yourself fewer calories to work with while doing so. This can leave the average person exhausted and completely not enthusiastic about training. You must strive to overcome the urge to lose your cool. Stick with it. Let the changes you see in the mirror fuel your patience as you work to persevere. This time will be difficult, but the results you see will make every bit of sacrifice completely worth it! Remember that you cannot use the mirror alone to give you feedback as to just how well your dieting plan is going. You are in a caloric-deficit state, so your mind is going to play tricks on your at times. The minute your arms look a little small or deflated, you might be tempted to just toss the diet out the window and fall back into bad habits or bulk back up. Don’t do it! Stick with the game plan. You’ll have no problem blowing those arms back up. Some deflation is normal when your protein is high and carbs are low. Stick with the plan! Measure your waistline each week with a standard measuring tape. Record your weight on the scale each time as well. Perhaps consider the use of a body fat test, readily available at most commercial gyms for a nominal fee. You need to know that you’re burning 1 to 4 pounds of fat each week. Anything more than that, and you might be burning up valuable muscle by accident! You can lose the love handles in 6 weeks. You can shake the fat that’s been following your for a while, and get to a point where you’re suddenly showing off the real gains that you made over the last few months of training heavy and eating right. Clean up your diet, add cardio, toss in supplements, and take care of yourself. The results will surprise you!
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 03:15:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015