Are you exhausted putting three hours in the gym each day trying to get rock hard abs, but not getting any results? Clearly, your struggle to score your dream body is due to you following the old and outdated rules. Nowadays, body builders have began to follow a whole new set of rules. The golden rules are helping them achieve that wrestler like appearance with rippling muscles, lean body, and six-pack abs.
If you were wondering how some of the folks in your gym were becoming ripped so fast, the answer is the five golden rules they have been following. Now, no longer is this a guarded secret, as the rules are out in open for all to seize and transform their body into lean and mean machines. Pay close attention to the following rules:
1. Carbohydrates Are Your Friend
Most people will tell you that if you want to build muscle and get lean, you have to stay as far away from carbohydrates as you possibly can. Guess what, that is not true. You should not dismiss eating carbs right away, but try to eat some here and there.
No one is saying to overload yourself with carbs, but cutting the entirely from your diet is a little extreme and not a wise thing to do. Carbs play an important role in the lives of people who want to gain muscle mass. If you want to have that lean physique you always see in magazines, keep carbs as part of your diet.
2. Load Up on Fat
Another misconception people have is that eating lots of fat will make you fat. To shatter that misconception, you should know that eating excessively makes you fat and not the other way around. By eating more fat, you will be able to kill cravings, but after you have reduced, not eliminated, your sweet and sugary cravings. How do fats help in the fight to curb hunger? When you consume fats, your body has to do extra work to break it down, store it, or utilize it. You can pair your consumption of fats with supplements that work to increase your metabolism, burn fat, and curb hunger. In addition to this benefit, another benefit that comes to mind is fats ability to regulate the hormone levels in your body to keep it functioning normally.
3. Choose Veggies over Fruits
There is nothing wrong about fruits. They are great to eat, as they contain an abundance of antioxidants and nutrients, which help to protect your body. However, for a person who wants to look like a bodybuilder, eating fruits would be out of the question. Fruits contain sugar, and lots of it.
But, what about the antioxidants and nutrients? Where can you get your daily dose of that? From vegetables, you can get all the antioxidants and nutrients you need. Switching from fruits to veggies will reduce your total carb intake. For instance, in one apple there are 25 grams of carbohydrates and 125 calories whereas in one red pepper there are 5 grams of carbohydrates and 40 calories. Hence, you will have to create a balance in order not to break rule number #1—Don’t ditch carbs!
4. Forget Cardio, Choose Circuits and Weight Training
Again, someone must have told you that in order to become lean, you need to do some heavy-duty cardio. Whoever told you that, you should tell them they are living in past, following the old rules. The new rule is to say goodbye to cardio, and hello to circuits and weight. The reason being that cardio burns calories, but does not promote muscle development stimulation.
Weight training, on the other hand, does. If you have a lot of muscle already, you will burn greater amounts of fat and calories. You should visit your local gym at least three to four day a week with one of those days dedicated to circuit training paired with different types of exercises. If you really need to lose calories and you love cardio, performing it once every week for twenty minutes at slow and fast intervals is fine.
5. Put Down the Alcohol
Your party days are over! If you are serious about losing weight and becoming lean, you will have to give up on alcohol. Drinking alcohol will cause your body to store fat, which means your body will not be able to use it for energy. Even your digestive system will take a hit and suffer. Your digestive system will not let any food pass from your body until your liver has expelled every drop of alcohol from it.
The damage alcohol does to someone who is trying to become well built does not end here. There energy levels will drop, you will become dehydrated, and your testosterone level will decrease. You need high levels of testosterone levels to create muscle. So, does this mean you will have to go sober?
Not exactly, as you can have two hard liquors mixed with a diet drink or light beers, but not more than that. Even though you might not like the idea of sticking to just two on your day out, you will love the results you will get after a few months of working out rigorously, and you will know that your sacrifice was worth it.
If you want to achieve a body that others will swoon over and a body you could be proud of when they do, you need to start getting in shape. If you are already in the routine of going to the gym on a regular basis and are pumping iron regularly, but not getting any real results.
You may still be following the old rules to get ripped. With these new set of rules, you will see your body transform and you will finally, get that lean and muscular body you always wanted.
Sohail has been searching diets and belly fat solutions for over a decade, and manage a pool of trained authors to write articles, which have helped thousands of readers to this date. He has CPD accredited Certificate in Nutrition for Weight Loss besides his MBA degree. He also owns this website, which he founded in 2013 to share his ideas and knowledge. Not to mention he has tried numerous supplements over the years and has an extensive and thorough knowledge on supplements. Besides spending time on his study, research and literature, Sohail loves swimming, gardening and travelling.
