Build Lean Muscle - Lose Body Fat

The short answer is yes, but this is a tricky issue. The body has only so much capacity to recover from exercise, and new muscle growth will not occur until that recovery is complete. So if you perform a great workout that will stimulate the growth of a half-pound of new muscle, you can prevent it from ever happening by doing so much more exercise that your body never completes it's recovery.

For example, suppose on Monday you do a super productive workout that stimulates new muscle growth that would manifest on Friday after your full recovery was complete. But on Wednesday you go for a six mile run and on Thursday you go back to the gym and pump some more iron. Guess what? On Friday your body will be busy recovering instead of growing that new muscle you would have gained. That's why the three-day-a-week crowd sees no improvement after the first month or so.

The way to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time is to perform very brief but very high intensity weight lifting workouts that are supplemented with very low intensity calorie-burning exercises like one hour walks, jogging and the like. But this is very important: it is critical to measure the intensity of your weight lifting workouts so you know they are always increasing in intensity. Achieving an increase means you were fully recovered and your fat burning efforts did not short-circuit your muscle building efforts. If you don't measure, you're blind and you will not reach your goals blindly.

Truly Effective Ab Training

Training of the abdominal muscles has recently been the subject of more misinformation and mythology than any other part of the human anatomy. Gizmos and gadgets abound that are alleged to give you those coveted six pack abs. But here's how you can rationally train your abs to their absolute maximum limits of development using everyday gym equipment.

What Builds Abdominal Muscles

There is nothing unique about abdominal muscle as far as their training and response to training is concerned. The principles that apply to biceps and triceps apply equally to abs. So the three critical elements of your ab workouts are:

1. high intensity of muscular overload

2. progressive intensity from workout to workout

3. proper spacing of workouts to avoid overtraining or undertraining

Most people do sit-ups or crunches as an ab exercise. While these are basically good exercises that can satisfy point 1, above, how many people use them in a way that satisfies point 2?

Muscles will only increase in response to overload that is above normal overload. So if you do 20 crunches every day for a year, why would your ab muscles develop beyond that capacity? They won?. To force new development you need to increase the intensity. You could add a few crunches every day but that really just increases duration, there is a better way to get fast results.

Why TV Abdominal Machines Are a Joke

You've seen all those exercise gadgets on late night TV - lightweight gizmos that make it easier for you to rock back and forth on the ground while doing a crunch. Have you noticed that none of them allow you to add serious weight to increase intensity? Some have rubber bands or similar devices to add a bit of overload but it? a trivial amount.

I work with clients who have progressed to the point of doing crunches with 300 pounds! That's the kind of power and level of development your abs are capable of. Really! So fiddling around with cheap exercise equipment or those electric belts that stimulate your ab muscles using the minuscule power of two flashlight batteries is beyond laughable. Let's see two AA batteries generate the power to lift a man's torso and 300 pounds 20 times in one minute. Please.

The Best Ab Exercises

We tested common abdominal exercises and ranked them by their ability to deliver high intensity muscular overload. We tested ab machines, vertical leg raises, Roman chairs and others. The three winners were:

#1 Weighted crunches

#2 Weighted incline sit-ups

#3 Weighted sit-ups

If you don't have access to a low pulley, there is a good alternative. You can use the high pulley that is normally used for lat pulldowns. Kneel on the floor or sit in the seat directly under the rope handles that you attach to the high pulley. Lock your legs under the hold down. Pull the handles into position next to your ears then contract your ab muscles into a crunch that raises the weight stack an inch or two. Choose a weight that is so heavy you can only to 8 to 12 reps.

As a further alternative you can lie on the floor and do a sit up or crunch while holding a barbell plate against your chest. The limitation of this exercise it that, as you progress in strength it will not be possible to hold enough plates on your chest safely. But that's a good problem to have.

On each successive workout, shoot for a 5-15% increase in the weight you use. If you can't get a 5% increase in weight it't time to add more days off between your workouts.

Conclusion

There is no mystery to developing your abdominal muscles to the limits of their genetic potential. And you certainly don't need quirky gadgets. High intensity exercises that can be progressed from workout to workout will have you sporting that six pack!

Train Smart!

All the best,

Pete

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