Getting lean while leaving the cardio behind.

 

This might be new information If you aren’t in the habit of keeping up on fitness info/trends & sometimes it just takes someone you know or trust to tell it to you their way.

It is human nature to want to look, perform and feel the best you can and there is a ton of good and bad information out there for you to filter through in your quest for physical progress, I get asked multiple times per day about what is the most effective way to build/maintain lean muscle mass without spending countless hours in the gym and/or on a piece of cardio equipment so I am going to try and break it down in my words in a brief manner with what I feel are the most important factors to consider for this topic. I will elaborate/comment on any of these

The very first and what I feel most important factor to consider is your food intake, with this you have to first set up a lofty but realistic goal of what you want to look like or how you want to perform keeping in mind your body type and dedication level both in the gym and the kitchen.  You are in the gym say 1 hour per day & the other 23 hours are where success happens, you can ruin a great training program with shitty nutrition habits so put a lot of focus on this aspect and do some personal research or hire someone who won’t give you a cookie cutter meal plan.

The second most important aspect is double sided and without question is a very instrumental step in achieving any fitness goal.  A well thought out and designed training plan is part #1 and training with Intensity is #2 – you can have a amazing training plan designed for you, but if you bring a lackluster effort to the table you will just cheat yourself and waste what could have been the plan to finally get you to your goals, so put your mind in the right spot and train as intense as you can at each session. This means doing what you don’t like to do, it means not avoiding the movements and body-parts you dislike or struggle with, it means concentrating on weaknesses, it means leaving your old comfort zone and exploring a new one, you never know how hard you can push yourself if you never exert the effort required to put you into the hurt locker.   This is again where research or seeking assistance will be helpful to prevent you coming out of the gate to hard and getting injured or burnt out before you have a chance to succeed.

This brings me to the Headline of “getting lean while leaving the cardio behind”  Now first off if you enjoy doing cardio in the gym or outside then that is great & when combined with resistance training it will lead you to a very well balanced athletic body and higher level of performance but If you dislike or don’t have the time to perform traditional cardio I will point out a few ways/things to consider incorporating into you gym time to help you get your heart rate up and keep it there.

• Starting or ending your training session with Tabata’s – these are short and very intense intervals such as 20 seconds all out effort with 10 seconds rest repeated for a prescribed amount of time or sets,   you can spend 5-10 minutes doing these and they are way more effective for fat loss than spinning your wheels during a long slow effort on an elliptical or other cardio piece.
• Incorporating movements in between sets, during your normal “rest” time – Jumping rope, Jumping jacks, mountain climbers, step ups, jump squats etc… If you have a workout that calls for 25 sets of resistance training and you spend 30 seconds in between each set doing one of these movements you will at the end of the session have spent twelve and a half minutes keeping your heart rate elevated performing “cardio” without really even knowing you did it.
• Doing full body circuit training while using a timer or stop watch to limit the amount of rest you get, 15 seconds clicks off pretty fast so to keep yourself accountable I suggest a gym boss timer or stopwatch to monitor your rest period.  You can set up a 4-6 station circuit using very little equipment or worrying about someone stealing your machine and roll through that using different rep schemes and rest periods and by the end of 8 rounds you will have had an elevated heart rate for the entire training session with again not doing traditional cardio.

I hope this helps and has cleared the air for you on a few things, feel free to comment on any part of it if you wish for me to go into more detail.  Thanks Stevie T

#trainharder2playharder

**always consult with your physician before starting or changing a current workout routine , nutrition program or supplement.  The advice and programs that are talked about on this site are not recommended for use by any individuals with any medical condition(s) that might be compromised by intense exercise or resistance training.  If you feel any abnormal pain, nausea or dizziness please discontinue training and consult your health care professional immediately **