Should I Gain Muscle Or Lose Weight?
Are you ready for my famous “gain muscle or lose fat” chart?
I know this is going to make a few people mad, but it’s the truth about whether a guy should lose fat or gain muscle. If he doesn’t stick to my recommendations, he won’t get the ripped abs and muscles he wants.
I often get scrawny guys asking me how to lose fat, when they have no muscle underneath the fat… they think they will look good if they “get ripped”, but in reality, will look like they are starving. They should focus on gaining muscle instead.
This is a harsh lesson in reality, but too many guys are trying to lose weight when the focus should be on gaining muscle.
In fact, through my experience in working with athletes and dozens of men in the gym trying to lose fat and gain muscle, I’ve come up with a height-weight chart that determines whether or not you should lose weight.
Here’s the chart identifying the cut-off weight for muscle building, and the rule below.
5′6″ – 140 pounds
5′7″ – 145 pounds
5′8″ – 150 pounds
5′9″ – 155 pounds
5′10 – 160 pounds
And so on. For every inch taller, add 5 pounds. For every inch shorter, subtract 5 pounds.
For example, if you are 5′8″, 150 pounds, you should NOT be focusing on losing weight. You need to gain muscle if you want to look good on the beach and have muscle. Focusing on weight loss would be the worst thing you could do. If you do, you’ll look like crap, and practically anorexic, to be blunt.
Instead, you must focus on gaining muscle. This will improve the appearance of your body, and take you from a stick-figure to a lean, muscular physique with a better chance of seeing your abs.
And don’t worry, you’re not going to look huge. At 5′8″, a guy would have to be at least 180 in order to be considered “jacked” or “huge”.
And the best news of all? Because skinny guys are untrained, simply starting a muscle building program will give them maximum fat loss and muscle gain at the same time. They are going to get the best of both worlds.
To use Turbulence Training to gain muscle and lose fat, simply stick to the weight training workouts only. Avoid the hard interval cardio for at least 4 weeks as you gain muscle, and eat extra calories right after your workout (as well as having a bigger breakfast than normal). These two changes will allow you to gain muscle and lose fat.
About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit his website here.
5 Kick Ass Fat Burning Tips
Here are 5 kick ass fat loss tips for beginner & advanced readers.
1) No liquid calories (with the exception of a post-workout drink)
Get rid of all the juices, the sodas, and the sports drinks. Liquid sugar is the last thing you need when you are trying to lose fat.
You must also limit your alcohol intake – especially if you are adding mix to drinks… that is a double calorie bomb! A single “Jackand Coke” is over 200 calories (100 calories from booze and 100 calories from mix).
2) No fast food
Do not eat at fast food restaurants. Even if you choose what you think is healthy, remember this:
Fast food restaurants are all about profit.
And in order to profit while giving you cheap, quick, and easy to prepare foods, the quality of the food ingredients will be poor – especially the protein.
Now you might have read that you can still make healthy choices at fast food restaurants. But you know what, that’s just politically-correct opinion. If it’s fast food, it’s poor food.
Walking into a burger joint and grabbing a chicken breast on a white bread bun with a piece of old lettuce and a half-green, half-pink tomato is “barely” healthy eating.
The politically-incorrect truth is that it’s going to take time and effort to eat properly. You will have to plan, shop, and prepare healthy meals. You will have to spend time cleaning, cutting, and cooking your food. That’s the truth.
But believe me, it will taste so much better than fast food, and healthy eating will make you more alert. Eating fast food will make you feel terrible, and will make you want to have an afternoon nap at your desk.
Make one small improvement to your nutrition everyday for the rest of your life.
3) Eat more fruits and vegetables
If you are eating 2 servings per day, then go up to 4 servings per day by the end of the week. And even if you think you are doing great by having 5 servings per day, you still need to double that (take 2-3 weeks to work your way up to 10 servings per day).
Stick with fiber-rich fruits and vegetables – organic if possible.
4) Eat 1oz of almonds or walnuts per day (1/2 oz in the morning, and the other half in the afternoon)
Most nuts are roasted in oils (possible source of trans fats), so stick to natural or dry-roasted nuts.
Don’t panic… this small amount of nuts won’t make you fat, but will fill you up and help you lose weight.
5) Be consistent with your workouts
And make sure the workouts are efficient and effective. To make it easy for you to follow, stick with the Turbulence Training fat burning workout system.
It doesn’t matter if you train in the morning before or after breakfast, or at night before or after dinner, or at 1pm on days when the moon is in line with Saturn… don’t worry about the details, just train consistently.
6) BONUS TIP: Go for a walk after lunch or dinner (or anytime you eat a big meal). Research shows this will help you control your cholesterol and triglycerides, plus any movement is better than sitting around watching the TV and snacking.
About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit his website here.
Why Cardio Is A Waste Of Time For Fat Loss
While the mainstream fitness media still insists that aerobic exercise is a great way to lose weight, Turbulence Training users know that interval training is the better way to burn body fat.
Still not convinced?
A recent study published by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, subjects aged 40 to 75 were instructed to do 60 minutes of aerobic exercise per day for 6 days per week for an entire year.
Given the amount of exercise, you’d expect weight losses of 20, 30 pounds, or more, right?
Well, the surprise findings showed the average fat loss for female subjects was only 4 pounds for the entire year, while men lost 6.6 pounds of fat over the year. That’s over 300 hours of aerobic exercise just to lose a measly 6 pounds of blubber. Not time well spent, in my opinion.
So what’s the better way? Stick with Turbulence Training, using interval training and strength training to get better bodysculpting results. With intervals, you’ll achieve more fat burning results in less workout time.
The next time you are out exercising, perform a session of interval training. If you are walking or running outside, find an incline that can challenge you for 60 seconds, then walk down for 60-120 seconds, and repeat up to 6 times.
If you walk or run on a treadmill, adjust the incline or speed to safely increase the challenge for 60 seconds, then return to the normal pace for 60-120 seconds, and repeat up to 6 times.
You can also use a rowing machine, bicycle or stationary bike, or even an elliptical machine to do intervals.
But whatever you do, stay away from boring, ineffective cardio exercise workouts and stick with Turbulence Training for your fat burning program.
About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit his website here.
Best Ways To Burn Belly Fat
I often get asked, “What’s the best way to burn fat and lose my belly?” People want to know if aerobics is better than strength training, or if traditional cardio exercise is better than intervals.
Well, to say I’ve done them all would be an understatement.
With over 15 years experience helping others, training myself, training for sports, spending countless hours in the gym, AND actually conducting laboratory research studies on different exercise methods, I’m pretty confident in knowing what works and what does not.
But first of all, I want to frame my responses. I’m going to talk about what works for people that have a limited amount of time to exercise, mostly because I expect your readers don’t have 90 minutes per day to devote to a workout, unlike the typical audience of a fitness magazine.
That’s why there is a huge disconnect between some of the information found in magazines and the ability of the reader to apply it to their lives.
We just don’t have 6-8 hours per week for exercise, nor do we need it. If you’re a triathlete, you might need that, but not someone that just wants to lose fat and gain muscle.
Having said all that, the bottom line for getting a better body is…
Use bodyweight exercises to warm-up, strength training supersets to build muscle, and then finish your workout with interval training to burn fat in a short amount of time. I’ve structured my system so that you are in and out of the gym in 45 minutes, three times per week.
You’ll do 5 minutes of bodyweight exercises to warm-up. This is a much more efficient approach than spending 5 minutes walking on a treadmill, which really doesn’t prepare you for anything except more walking on a treadmill.
Then we move into the strength training supersets, where we use two exercises performed back to back with minimum rest between each. This cuts our workout time, while still giving us maximum results. We only need 20 minutes for this, and we’ll use basic exercises, and sometimes even more bodyweight exercises, depending on the client’s goal for muscle building.
And finally, we’ll do 18 minutes of interval training. A warm-up, followed by six short intervals at the appropriate fitness level for the client, interspersed with short periods of low-intensity recovery. Finish with a cool-down. And that’s the workout. Again, about 45 minutes total.
Compare that to what most people do, which is run, jog, cycle or use the cardio machines for 45 minutes straight. Sure, that will burn calories, but it doesn’t build a better body.
In fact, there are a few “dark sides” to long slow cardio, including less-than-optimal results, the potential for overuse injuries, and it is an inefficient form of exercise. If you only have 30-45 minutes for your workout and you spend it all on a cardio machine, when are you going to train the rest of your muscles and sculpt a better body?
So the best way to burn belly fat is with a combination of strength training and interval training. It’s fast, it works, and it’s fun!
About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit his website here.