Burning fat, losing weight, still maintaining strength

I’m now 164-165 lbs from 172 lbs. All I did was changed my diet and increased cardio. My workout remained the same by doing one lower body, one upper body push, one upper body pull exercise 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). I have more definition than before, and I am still maintaining my strength.

Tonight, I started off with deadlift, close-grip bench press, and chin up.

Deadlift:
315 lbs x 5 reps
315 lbs x 5 reps
285 lbs x 8 reps

Close-Grip Bench Press:
145 lbs x 8 reps
145 lbs x 5 reps
125 lbs x 8 reps

Chin Up (bodyweight only):
9 x 6 x 4 reps

I want to be 162 or 163 lbs by Feb. 1st because I will take a new picture of myself. Then I’ll start bulking up again, but this time around I will eat properly so I don’t gain lots of fat.

Click here to learn more about gaining mass and getting ripped

High Reps, Low Weight For Muscle Definition – Myth, Myth, Myth

I know you will hear this from almost everybody that you need to do high reps and low weight for muscle definition. But out of all the “everybody” that’s been telling you about this, exactly how many of them are ripped?

To really get ripped (I’m talking about beach body and not bodybuilding competition ripped), you must have muscle mass, and a low bodyfat – it is that simple. When you do high reps and low weights, you aren’t burning much calories, and light intensity does not increase your metabolism. You want to build as much mass by doing compound exercises (squats, deadlift, bench press, etc.), and when you think you have reached your goal in mass, then you slowly decrease your calorie intake and do more cardio (3-4 times per week) at high intensity rate (short, but intense). This is when people think it is time to do high reps and light weight – – NO! Continue to do compound exercises but increase the reps to 8-10 instead of 6-8. As your bodyfat decreases, your joints are not as strong as before to handle very heavy weights. This is why bodybuilders who are about to enter a competition would do higher reps and lighter weight because they are getting too weak to do heavy sets around 5-8 reps. They have about 3-4% bodyfat! Imagine doing 5 reps of heavy deadlifting at 3-4% bodyfat…

As you are losing weight, continue on with 3 days a week with one day of rest in between of compound exercises. You want to maintain as much muscles as possible while losing weight. That is the goal of getting ripped.

I know a lot of people would think I’m full of crap, but for those who only believe in myths, they will never see changes.

Olympic Style Training

You don’t exactly need to know how to do the Clean And Jerk or Snatches like the Olympics do. I wouldn’t recommend doing those without professional guidance because they can easily cause injury if done improperly. You can easily learn how to do Clean Pull, High Pull, Push Press, Deadlifts, Squats, and Hang Clean. These moves require a lot of muscle groups, and almost the entire body. Go heavy on these moves for 5-8 reps per set. These moves build a lot of mass because you are using a lot of muscle groups that allow you to use very heavy weights.

Instead of doing upright rows, try doing high pulls. You’ll be able to use more weights and also hit more muscle groups. Instead of doing military press, try doing push press instead. Instead of using leg machines, go to the power rack and do squats.

I started doing a Hang Clean/Front Squat/Push Press combo. Basically I do a hang clean, and then at the end of the hang clean, I squat down with the bar in front of me still, which is a front squat, and finally, I explode upwards to do a push press. I just wanted to get the form down. Never let your ego take over and start doing heavier weights when you don’t know how to do a certain exercise. I got the form down by doing just the bar. I didn’t care if people looked at me. Either you want to gain mass or lose weight, doing compound exercises work best to increase your metabolism.

I follow Vince DelMonte’s program to get fit and looking good. Click here to learn more about Vince.