7 Things I Learned in 14 Weeks: Get Ripped Without Losing Muscle
3 Biggest Skinny Guy Mistakes You're Making. Click Here to Avoid Them!
As most of you may already know, a short time ago I competed in my first fitness show. I started at 19% bodyfat and cut down to a stage shredded 5% in just 14 weeks. Pretty impressive huh? Well maybe, but here is the kicker. Not only did I manage to drop about 1% of bodyfat per week, but I managed to build muscle while in a caloric deficit.
In this post I am going to go over 7 things that I learned in those 14 weeks of show preparation. So if you are someone who is or was naturally skinny and want to get ripped without sacrificing your hard earned muscle mass, pay close attention.
7 Things I Learned in 14 Weeks: Get Ripped Without Losing Muscle
1. DON’T CUT YOUR CARBS!
Carbohydrates are a very important part of muscle preservation. Supplying your body with enough energy will help you to avoid breaking down muscle and/or protein to create more energy. In fact, the leaner you get, the more important carbohydrates become. Depleting your carbohydrates can not only cause you to use muscle mass as a source of energy, but it can destroy your metabolism and suppress your leptin levels, making it nearly impossible to burn fat efficiently.
2. Use it or lose it
When most people think about a “cutting phase”, they assume they must kill themselves with cardio workouts. The fact is, lifting weights with the proper intensity will do more toward your fat loss goals than cardio, any day…especially if you are concerned about preserving your muscle. This is not to say that the proper amount of cardio with the proper nutrition isn’t a great way to burn fat. This simply means that jogging on the dreaded hamster wheel does not have to be the focus of your training.
Focusing more on cardio and less on weight lifting could also become counterproductive. Simply put, if you are not using the muscle, your body will eventually feel like it doesn’t need it, period. Not to mention, weight lifting increases the production of anabolic hormones that do wonders for fat burn without losing muscle. Ever wonder why these jacked and shredded guys can eat pizza after the club at 2am and stay ripped?
3. If you want to look like a fitness model, you have to train like one
I’m tired of guys who look at these athletes on magazine covers who dedicate their lives to bodybuilding and say “I want to look like this guy”. Then when you ask them how much time they have for the gym, they say “I can’t train anymore than 3 days per week for 45 minutes because I work full-time”. Or they might say “I can train 5 days a week but I just can’t afford to eat the necessary foods”. Well, news flash! If you can only train 3 days per week for 45 minutes each, your physique is going to reflect that. What makes you so damn amazing that you think you can look like this guy who dedicates his life to the sport?
If you want to look like a fitness model, then you must prioritize your training the same way he does.
4. The fix for acne might just be in your diet
When I started my “see food, eat food” approach in order to bulk up, my diet was pretty horrible. I pretty much ate anything and everything that was available. I noticed that my skin started to get really bad, really fast. Because I was on this diet, I chose to ignore the break outs and go through with the approach I committed to. However, as soon as I cleaned up my eating habits in preparation for the show, my skin completely cleared up. Not one zit, not one pimple, not one break out. As long as I kept the diet clean, my skin stayed clear…as soon as I broke the diet after the show, my skin began to act up again. Cure to acne? Maybe, maybe not…but it worked for me.
5. You CAN weigh less and look heavier
The leaner you get, the more visible your muscle definition becomes. So although I was 20 lbs lighter, I looked more jacked than I did before the “cut” because my muscularity showed more. With that being said, stop focusing on the scale and start trusting your mirror.
6. Proper prioritization will do wonders for your physique
When I started my 14 week training for my fitness show, I noticed that my shoulders were lagging in comparison to the rest of my body. I knew how important aesthetics and symmetry would be for the competition, so I prioritized on my lagging muscle groups by training them consistently and religiously, 2 days per week. Monday and Friday were ALWAYS shoulder training. Guess what? By the end of the training, my most complimented muscle group was….yep, you guessed it…my shoulders!
7. Fats are your friend
Fats are often looked at as the enemy and the reason you store fat, however, healthy fats will do wonders for fat loss (ironic huh?). So when you decide you want to go on a fat loss program and your first thought is to cut the fat from your diet, think again. Healthy fats not only have a number of fat burning properties, but consuming them is going to work wonders for eliminating food cravings. Try cutting out your carbs in the morning and have your protein and fats instead. You’ll see how filling and satisfying the meal is in comparison. Not to mention the increased mental focus and other positive effects it has on you throughout the day.
Cut 14% bodyfat in 14% weeks without losing a pound of muscle!
Interested in knowing exactly how I got absolutely shredded in just 14 short weeks? Download my FREE DVD documentary titled “My 6 Pack Journey” and watch me transform my body right before your eyes. Not only will you be amazed to see how simple it is, but you will learn the simple secrets I used to make sure I maintained (and even gained) muscle mass.
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July 30th, 2012 at 11:10 pm
i was wondering wat r foods to stay away from its really hard forme to lose weight and i dnt no if im eating right
October 16th, 2012 at 3:42 pm
[...] recently wrote a blog post titled, “7 Thing I Learned in 14 Weeks to Getting Ripped Without Losing Muscle,” and I wanted to go ahead and share that post with you now. 1. Don’t Cut Your [...]