Training

Here's what you need to know...

1. Targeting stubborn fat and targeting fat in a specific area are two different things. It is possible to get rid of stubborn fat through diet, exercise and supplementation.
2. Subcutaneous fat is more stubborn than visceral fat (fat in the abdomen) and intramuscular fat. In women, stubborn fat is found in the buttocks, hips and thighs, while in men it is found in the love handles at the sides of the waist.
3. A calorie-restricted diet and more exercise can make stubborn fat even more stubborn. There are two exercise and diet strategies to prevent this.
4. Supplements like green tea extract, forskolin and yohimbine HCl can help with stubborn body fat once you've gotten your diet on track.

Targeted fat loss: myth or option

Yesterday I was browsing some popular health and fitness pages on Facebook. A discussion was started by a person who asked a question regarding targeting stubborn fat.

The administrator of the page answered this question as follows: "You can't target specific areas of the body. It is simply impossible. The body burns fat from all areas of the body. Targeted fat loss has been proven to be a myth."

And the truth is? The site administrator is wrong on both counts. Firstly, you can certainly target stubborn fat and secondly, localized fat loss has been proven to work.

Wait, localized fat loss works?

Targeted localized fat loss refers to the idea that you burn fat in a specific area of the body by directly exercising that area. This idea brings back memories of late night TV infomercials with people working out with nonsensical ab trainers or using thigh toning machines in an attempt to get lean thighs.

Ridiculous, right? But you might be surprised to hear that in 2007, a study published in the American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism by Dr. Bente Stallnecht confirmed that localized fat loss does indeed occur. In this study, localized training burned significantly more fat in the trained leg than in the non-trained leg.

So this study has answered the question once and for all. Yes, localized fat loss does occur. The only problem: this fat loss occurs to such an insignificant extent that it is practically useless. The amount of extra fat burned in the trained leg was, figuratively speaking, the equivalent of taking a few drops of water out of a lake.

What does this mean in practice? In purely technical terms, localized fat loss occurs, but on such a marginal scale that it is essentially insignificant. I like to say that trying to lose fat locally with targeted exercises is as effective as trying to change a tire with a pencil. It's practically impossible.

What is stubborn fat?

Targeting stubborn fat and localized fat loss are two different things. I looked at localized fat loss first because it's important to define what we're talking about here. We are not talking about localized fat loss. Localized fat loss is all about training alone.

Targeting stubborn fat involves diet, exercise and supplementation. Localized fat loss is basically impossible. Targeting stubborn fat is not only possible, it's doable if you know what you're doing.

The first thing you need to know about stubborn fat is that it is different from other fat on a physiological level. Stubborn fat has a high density of alpha receptors compared to beta receptors, has a higher insulin sensitivity and is less perfused than regular body fat.

Subcutaneous fat (the fat that is under the skin) is more stubborn than visceral fat (the fat around your organs) or intramuscular fat (the fat in your muscles). The most stubborn areas of body fat are the hips, buttocks and thighs in women and the love handles in men.

The biochemistry of fat burning

To burn fat, you need to release it from the fat cells. This is called lipolysis. Then the fat must be taken to other cells where it is burned. This is the point where the blood supply to and from this tissue is important. Finally, the fat must enter the cell and be burned. This last step is called fat oxidation.

Stubborn adipose tissue releases its fat more slowly than non-stubborn adipose tissue. This is due to two different types of receptors in the fat cells. Our primary fat-releasing hormones are the catecholamines - norepinephrine aka noradrenaline and epinephrine aka adrenaline.

These hormones bind to receptors in adipose tissue and then signal the fat cell to speed up or slow down the release of fat. These receptors are known as alpha and beta receptors. The beta receptors accelerate the release of fat. The alpha receptors slow down the release of fat.

These receptors have these effects in large part because they activate intracellular signals that either increase or decrease the activity of hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) - the primary fat-releasing enzyme in the body.

All of this is mediated by cyclic AMP (cAMP). So to fight stubborn fat, you need to do things that increase beta receptor activity and reduce alpha receptor activity.

Insulin sensitivity and stubborn fat

The vast majority of fitness and health experts misunderstand insulin resistance. Most think that insulin resistance is just one thing. In truth, insulin sensitivity and insulin resistance are tissue specific. If you're used to seeing the term insulin resistant in the typical way, then you won't understand stubborn fat.

Stubborn fat has a higher insulin sensitivity, which means it is less insulin resistant than regular fat. The normal action of insulin in fat cells is to reduce the activity of HSL (the primary fat-releasing enzyme) and increase the activity of LPL (the primary fat-storing enzyme).

A fat cell that is more insulin-resistant therefore stores less fat and releases more fat. A fat cell that has a higher insulin sensitivity stores more fat and releases less fat. Stubborn fat therefore has a higher insulin sensitivity than other fat.

But that's not all - insulin also has an effect on the activity of alpha and beta receptors, increasing the relative expression of alpha receptors in relation to beta receptors. When it comes to stubborn fat, insulin is not your friend for several reasons.

Other hormones also become active. Thyroid activity increases beta receptor activity and decreases alpha receptor activity. Anything that interferes with thyroid function is not helpful for stubborn fat.

Estrogen increases alpha receptor activity. High estrogen levels, such as those that occur during the late follicular phase and early luteal phase of the female cycle, mark the times of the month when female stubborn fat is even more stubborn.

Heat and blood flow

Another part of the story is that stubborn fat is less well perfused, which means that even when fat is released, that fat is not as easily transported away from the fat cell to be burned elsewhere. The alpha receptors also affect blood flow, more alpha receptors in one area means less blood supply to that area.

In addition, stubborn fat is located in areas that the body cannot heat as well. Riding breeches and life rings are located further away from the center of the body and tend to be "colder".

The practicality of this information is of course limited. There are a few ways to warm up localized areas of the body and the use of saunas, hot baths, massage, high temperature workout areas or those old neoprene belts may not have been such a stupid idea when viewed from this angle.

I'm not sure if these things will make a real difference, but people have done far stranger things in the pursuit of shedding stubborn body fat.

How you can fight stubborn fat

Now that you know many of the factors involved in stubborn fat, let's talk about how to solve your problems. There are three simple steps that are easier said than done:

1. Stop dieting
2. Do cyclical dieting
3. Target the area

Stop dieting

The more I study metabolism, the more I become convinced that dieting by eating less and exercising more is by far one of the biggest obstacles to permanent change. This is especially true for stubborn fat.

When you follow this method, the body tries to compensate metabolically in several ways. Adaptive thermogenesis is one of these aspects. You eat less and exercise more and your body will make you hungrier, give you less energy, cause insatiable cravings and reduce your metabolic rate at rest by an average of 300 kcal per day.

In other words, your body has prepared itself to resist further loss of body fat while increasing the likelihood that you'll be engaging in a three-month donut binge in no time.

And guess where you're likely to store that newly built up fat? You guessed right, in the stubborn pockets of fat you originally wanted to get rid of. So dieting doesn't just make you fatter, it also makes stubborn fat even more stubborn.

The two main ways the body accomplishes this is by increasing insulin sensitivity in stubborn fat tissue and reducing thyroid function, which shifts things even further toward alpha receptor activity versus beta receptor activity.

So dieting the traditional way is a perfect recipe for making stubborn fat even greedier and stingier. Dieting could make your fat body parts even fatter.

Two ways to stop dieting

To stop dieting, you can easily do one of the following things. Either eat less and exercise less or eat more and exercise more. What you must not do is continue to eat less and exercise more.

1. eat less, exercise less

Eating less and exercising less is an approach where low-intensity exercise such as walking dominates and only a few weight training sessions are performed during the week. This allows for a very low calorie and low carbohydrate diet without the compensations that come from eating less and exercising more.

A good way to describe this approach is a 3:2:1 ratio of diet to exercise. Three meals a day, two of which are protein and vegetable based and only one of which contains starch. This is accompanied by three rest and recovery activities (such as massage, yoga, naps), two traditional workouts with weights per week, and an hour or more of slow walking on all or most days of the week.

2 Eat more, exercise more

The opposite of the approach just described is an approach where calorie and carbohydrate intake are high to provide enough energy for intense daily activities throughout the week.

This is a 3:2:2 approach. Three meals a day plus two protein-based snacks and a double starch intake at the first meal after an intense training session. This is accompanied by three training sessions, two metabolic conditioning sessions and two traditional cardio training sessions per week.

Both approaches will reduce metabolic compensations, but the second approach (eat more, exercise more) is probably the better approach to keep the metabolism going and stubborn fat burning.

Follow a cyclical diet

You won't be truly successful with any single system. The metabolism is highly reactive and adaptable and even though it will compensate less with the two approaches described above, it will still compensate.

To prevent this compensation, it is a good idea to cycle the diet in a way that makes it harder for the metabolism to adapt. This keeps thyroid activity high, prevents leptin levels from dropping too low and keeps insulin sensitivity at a useful level.

When it comes to calories, hormones and stubborn fat, we're looking for the Goldilocks effect. Not too much, not too little, but just right. One to two weeks of a "eat less, exercise less" approach, followed by one to two weeks of a "eat more, exercise more" approach works very well.

Women can time this to coincide with their menstrual cycle. The two weeks before and during menstruation are the periods with the lowest estrogen levels, during which it is far easier to outsmart those pesky alpha receptors.

This would be the period during which you make diet, exercise and lifestyle changes towards your fat loss efforts. This is also a time of increased cravings and hunger in women based on altered brain chemistry that accompanies hormonal changes

One clinical gem that almost completely negates these effects is the use of unsweetened baking cocoa powder in water. Cocoa increases dopamine and serotonin levels - the very brain chemicals whose levels drop before and during menstruation.

Target the area

When we talk about targeting an area, we're not talking about training that area, we're talking about the right timing of diet, exercise and supplementation. When you burn fat, you burn body-wide fat, including the stubborn fat deposits.

Under normal circumstances, however, stubborn fat is burned much more slowly. This is the reason why some people get lean, while the fat in the lower body (women) or the love handles (men) don't seem to respond to fat loss efforts...or these areas even appear fatter.

The latter is of course not the case, as fat loss is probably also taking place in the stubborn fat pads. However, if the fat on the rest of the body is shrinking much faster, then this creates the illusion that the stubborn areas are getting even fatter.

Starve the fat and "feed" the lean muscle mass

The first step is to remember that fat loss is about reducing calories and balancing hormones.

You need to decide which part of your cycle will generate the biggest deficit. You will use one part of the cycle - I recommend the "eat less, exercise less" part - to "starve" the fat. Then use the other part of the cycle - I recommend the "eat more, exercise more" part - to "feed" the lean body tissue and protect yourself from metabolic compensation and hormonal changes that make stubborn fat even more stubborn.

In addition to this, there are supplements that can help. My two favorites are green tea extract and forskohlii or forskolin. Both of these supplements work through the same cellular messengers that are activated by catecholamines, only they don't do this by binding to alpha or beta receptors.

This greatly helps to release the brakes on stubborn body fat. Keep in mind that these supplements work best at low insulin levels.

There are also ways to directly block alpha receptor activation. This can be achieved through the use of yohimbine HCl, synephrine and berberine. Yohimbine is probably the best option at this point, although it is best taken on an empty stomach in a fasting state. Furthermore, a certain habituation effect can occur. Yohimbine can also have a strong stimulating effect. Berberine is an underestimated insulin reducer and has a weak alpha receptor blocking effect.

Of course, you can certainly use the ephedrine/caffeine combination with or without aspirin if you can find it somewhere. However, from my perspective as a physician, I would not use these approaches for safety reasons.

Final thoughts

With limited space and complicated mechanisms, here are the key points in a nutshell:

1. Battling stubborn fat requires the right combination of diet, exercise and supplementation.
2. Training one area in the hope of burning stubborn fat in that area does not work well. The body burns fat from all areas of the body. Stubborn fat is burned more slowly.
3. Stubborn fat is stubborn because of higher insulin sensitivity, more alpha receptors and poorer circulation.
4. Dieting makes stubborn fat even more stubborn due to changes in insulin levels and thyroid function that increase the number of alpha receptors and reduce the number of beta receptors.
5. Stop dieting by matching food intake to exercise volume.
6. Approaches such as "eat less, exercise less" and "eat more, exercise more" reduce metabolic compensation and counteract the hormonal changes that make stubborn fat even more stubborn.
7. Cycling between "eat less, exercise less" and "eat more, exercise more" helps to further reduce the negative hormonal changes and maintains the fat burning process in stubborn fat.
8. Targeted supplementation including green tea, coleus, berberine, yohimbine and others can accelerate fat loss in stubborn areas if the rest of the diet is in order.

References

1. Camps, et al. Weight loss, weight maintenance, and adaptive thermogenesis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2013;97(5):990-994. PUBMED
2. Ibrahim, et al. Subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue: structural and functional differences. Obesity Reviews. January 2010;11(1):11-18. pubmed
3. Silva, et al. Thyroid-adrenergic interactions: physiological and clinical implications. Thyroid. February 2008;18(2):157-165. PUBMED
4. Reckless, et al. Alpha-adrenergic receptor activity, cyclic AMP and lipolysis in adipose tissue of hypothyroid man and rat. The Journal Of Endocrinology. March 1976;68(3):419-430. PUBMED
5. Gormsen, et al. Estradiol acutely inhibits whole body lipid oxidation and attenuates lipolysis in subcutaneous adipose tissue: a randomized, placebo-controlled study in postmenopausal women. October 2012;167(4):543-551. PUBMED
6. Pedersen, et al. Estrogen controls lipolysis by up-regulating alpha2A-adrenergic receptors directly in human adipose tissue through the estrogen receptor alpha. Implications for the female fat distribution. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. April 2004;89(4):1869-1878. PUBMED
7. Lafontan, et al. Adrenergic regulation of adipocyte metabolism. October 1997;12(s1):6-20. PUBMED

by Dr. Jade Teta | 05/06/14

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/how-to-burn-stubborn-body-fat

One of the great things about the internet is the access it provides to thousands of training programs including photos, videos and of course workout routines.

While this is great for information junkies obsessed with the "how" and "why" of training with weights, the often conflicting information has led to serious information overload that all too often leads to serious paralysis by analysis.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Building muscle, losing body fat or increasing strength are all relatively simple endeavors - especially if you've seen it happen a few thousand times. The fact is, most successful trainers, if you injected them with a truth serum, could probably tell you everything you really need to transform your body in less time than it takes to scan your favorite fitness websites.

My feeling is this: Information is great - as long as it helps you reach your goals faster. In this article, I'm going to help you see through all the confusion and conflicting information by providing you with what you need to build muscle mass.

All killer information and no unnecessary filler. Does that sound good? Then let's get started!

Hypertrophy training - These are the reasons we do it!

I'm going to provide you with the exact strategies for developing a training program that we use ourselves to help our athletes and bodybuilders build muscle mass (hypertrophy).

This includes sets, reps, rest intervals, training splits and a truckload of program design strategies - all of which we've found to be the absolute best for achieving rapid gains.

Goals of a hypertrophy training phase

• To become more muscular (build lean body mass)
• Increase metabolic rate: Muscle tissue requires energy. Simply put, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn during the day. In addition, muscle is metabolically active tissue - it is the physical place where fat is burned.
• Aligning the development of weaker/less developed areas of the body with the development of the rest of the body: This helps physical athletes achieve the muscle symmetry they need to perform well in competition.
• Helping full contact athletes such as American football/rugby players to build up some body armor to better cope with constant impact.
• Build tendon strength and muscle tissue density in preparation for a more intense heavy strength building phase. "Some strength gains unrelated to hypertrophy are possible due to anatomical changes in connective tissue and muscle fiber attachments to tendons."(Jones & Rutherford; Narici et. al., 1989)
• Helping male fitness enthusiasts look better naked and hopefully pick up more women - hot girls like guys with big muscles!
• The average length of this phase is 4 to 8 weeks, depending on the individual.
• With the above in mind, if you are working with a bodybuilder or someone who wants to get more muscular, this phase can be extended to as long as necessary until the athlete has built the desired amount of lean muscle mass.
• The typical template is hard training for three weeks followed by a de-loading week.
• Training programs are repeated for 4 to 6 training sessions before they are exchanged for others.
• Occasionally - after three training sessions - the order of the exercises is changed (the actual exercises remain unchanged). This creates mental variety and slightly alters the physical stimulus and is an effective way to add some spice to your program without drastically changing your program - especially if what you are currently doing is working well.
• Somewhere in the range of 3 to 5 times per week, depending on the time available to the client/athlete.
• Each muscle group is trained once or twice a week.
• The average repetition range we use is 8 to 15 repetitions.
• Some sets with higher repetitions in the range of 20 to 25 repetitions and even up to 50 repetitions are occasionally added to increase the weekly volume.
• In hypertrophy programs for advanced exercisers, we use intensity techniques such as descending sets, rest-pause sets and forced repetitions to increase the volume of work.
• The general set range we use is 3 to 4 sets.
• Usually the volume is increased every week. During the hypertrophy phase, we prefer to increase volume rather than increase weight or decrease rest periods.
• In a typical four-week program, the progression might look like this:

Average duration of a typical hypertrophy cycle

Training frequency

Repetition ranges

Sets per exercise

o Week 1: 3 sets of 8 repetitions

o Week 2: 3 sets of 10 repetitions

o Week 3: 3 sets of 12 repetitions

o Week 4: 3 sets of 14 to 15 repetitions

• Another four week style to increase volume could include an increase in sets and reps:

o Week 1: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps

o Week 2: 3 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions

o Week 3: 4 sets of 8 to 10 repetitions

o Week 4: 4 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions

• In this phase we also use repetition pyramids like the following:

o Week 1: 8, 10, 12, 14 repetitions

o Week 2: 14, 12, 10, 8 repetitions

o Week 3: As week 1, but with heavier weights

o Week 4: As week 2, but with heavier weights

• Wave loading is another method we use during this phase. Here is an example:

o Week 1: 10, 15, 10, 15 reps

o Week 2: 12, 8, 12, 8 repetitions

o Week 3: Same as week 1, but with heavier weights

o Week 4: As week 2, but with heavier weights

Total number of sets per muscle group per week:

• 12 to 20 total sets per week per muscle group
• All sets for a muscle group can be performed in one training session or divided into several training sessions (2 to 3) throughout the week.
• Muscle groups that need the most work to bring them up to the level of development of the rest of the body are trained several times a week.

Pace of repetitions

We don't do much training at a specific tempo of repetitions, although we do use some slower tempo variations during the hypertrophy phase. Aim for 3 to 4 seconds for the eccentric phase and a 2 to 3 second isometric phase. Never slow down the concentric phase - here the pace always remains the same.

Pause intervals

• The pauses between sets are kept short to increase the growth hormone response.
• The rest intervals between sets are kept at an average of 30 to 60 seconds.
• If higher repetition numbers (15 repetitions or more) are used, we increase the duration of the rest intervals to no more than 90 seconds.
• The intensity of each set is kept in the medium to high range.
• Beginners or those who are in the first few weeks of a program should keep the intensity in the medium range. Basically, this means leaving 1 to 2 reps in the tank at the end of each set.
• Advanced exercisers or someone who is in a later phase of a training program should perform the sets to muscle failure and beyond. Occasionally we use the old-school method of "do as many reps as you can and then two more" to maximize growth hormone release.

Intensity/Volume

o "Growth hormone release is related to the degree of exhaustion." (Pyka, 1992)

• Training volume is kept high during this phase to generate cellular/physiological change (aka hypertrophy). Volume is increased significantly after the first 2 to 3 weeks, after the initial neurological changes that occur whenever your body performs new movement patterns.

o When a new exercise or movement pattern is introduced, progress during the first few weeks is largely based on neuromotor adaptations." (Komi, 1986)

o "After this initial "learning or relearning phase, subsequent strength gains are predominantly based on morphological increases in muscle fiber size." (Sale, 1988)

The training approach

• During the hypertrophy phase, we mainly use traditional/old-school exercises that mainly involve barbells, dumbbells and machines.
• Isolation exercises can also be performed during this phase.
• Although exercises with free weights (barbells and dumbbells) are preferred, machines can also be used. Machines allow for constant tension on the muscles due to their design. A curl movement performed with a dumbbell, for example, offers little or no resistance at the lowest and highest points of the movement. The resistance is only present in the middle section of the movement. Bicep curls performed on a machine, on the other hand, allow tension to be maintained throughout the entire range of motion. This constant tension can be a great advantage for increasing hypertrophy.
• In this phase, we mainly use one-set methods. For example, perform set #1, pause, perform set #2, pause, perform set #3, etc.
• Supersets can also be used during this phase. If each set involves different muscle groups, make sure the tempo and rest intervals do not exceed the 60 to 90 second recovery window I mentioned earlier. In other words, this means that if we are performing a push/pull superset using bench presses and bent-over rowing, we need to make sure that the time between sets of bench presses does not exceed 60 to 90 seconds. The same rule naturally applies to bent-over rowing.
• If you are performing unilateral exercises (only on one side), use the one-set method and make sure that each side does not get more than 60 to 90 seconds of recovery while the other side is being trained.

Some example hypertrophy programs

Here are sample hypertrophy programs with three, four and five training days per week. Keep in mind that these programs are not designed for the purpose of increasing strength or power. These programs are designed exclusively for building serious muscle mass.

Three day hypertrophy program

Day 1 - Pull

A) Pull-ups 4x8-12
B1) Lat pull-downs with wide grip 3x8-15
B2) Shoulder lifts (shrugs) 3x8-15
C) Single-arm bent-over rows 3x8-12
D) Hammer Strength high-low rowing 3x8-12
E1) Flying movements for the rear shoulder muscles 3x10-15
E2) Bicep curls 3x10-15

Day 2 - Legs/Hips

A) Classic squats 4x10-15
B) Front squats 3x8-12
C) Reverse lunges (same side) 3x10-12
D1) Leg curls 3x8-12
D2) Leg extensions 3x8-12
E1) Hip thrust (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8nFGuY77CE) 3x12-15
E2) Calf raises 3x12-15

Day 3 - Push

A) Dumbbell Bench Press 4x8-12
B) Hammer Strength Incline Bench Press 3x8-12
C) Dumbbell Shoulder Press 4x8-12
D) Push-ups with close grip (hands on a medicine ball) 3x12-15
E1) Side Lifts 3x12-15
E2) Tricep Press 3x12-15

Four-day hypertrophy program

Day 1 - Pull/Push

A) Lat pulldown with wide grip 4x8-12
B) Rowing bent over with a barbell 4x8-12
C) Rowing seated (close grip) 3x8-12
D) Dumbbell bench press 3x8-12
E) Shoulder press (one arm) 3x10-15
F1) Bicep curls 3x8-12
F2) Flying movements for the rear shoulder muscles 3x10-15

Day 2 - Legs/Hips

A) Classic squats 4x10-15
B) Front squats 3x8-12
C) Reverse lunges (same side) 3x10-12
D1) Leg curls 3x8-12
D2) Leg extensions 3x8-12
E) Calf raises 3x12-15

Day 3 - Push/Pull

A) Dumbbell Bench Press 3x8-12
B) Hammer Strength Incline Bench Press 3x8-12
C) Barbell Shoulder Press 3x10-15
D) Seated Row (wide grip) 3x8-12
E) Lat pulldown (close grip) 4x8-12
F1) Tricep press 3x8-12
F2) Flying movements for the rear shoulder muscles 3x10-15

Day 4 - Hips/Legs

A) Deadlift 4x8-10
B) Bulgarian split squats 3 x 8-12
C) Glute/Ham Raise 3x10-12
D1) Hip thrust 3x12-15
D2) Calf raises 3x12-15
E) Squat complex* 1-2 sets (the exercises are performed one after the other without a break):

• 20 second squats (as fast as possible). Try to achieve 20 repetitions
• 20 seconds jump squats, try to achieve 10 to 12 repetitions
• 20 seconds isometric hold on squats (pause at the lowest point)

Five day hypertrophy program

The five day split program is the same as the three day split program, but with more training days per week. This would look like this:

Week 1

Monday - Pull (A)
Tuesday - Legs/Hips (B)
Wednesday - Push (C)
Thursday - No training
Friday - Pull (A)
Saturday - Legs/Hips (B)
Sunday - Rest day

Week 2

Monday - Push (C)
Tuesday - Pull (A)
Wednesday - Legs/Hips (B)
Thursday - Rest day
Friday - Push (C)
Saturday - Pull (A)
Sunday - Rest day

Additional training tips for hypertrophy training:

• Due to the less functional, more visual body development focused training during this phase, perform a few sessions per week of total body and/or low intensity rotational exercises to maintain some level of functional (athletic) ability.
• Perform some specific abdominal/core training at the end of the session.
• During this phase, it is crucial that you consume sufficient calories, protein and other nutrients to not only allow your body to build muscle, but also to help you recover from the high-intensity nature of the workouts.
• Make sure you use the following supplements on a regular basis: Whey protein, BCAAs, creatine monohydrate and beta-alanine. When these supplements are used consistently in conjunction with this program, the changes in body development are dramatic.

Final thoughts

I've just given you the who, the what, the why, the where and the how of building muscle mass. Now you have all the tools you need to get muscular - and most importantly, I haven't given you anything you don't need.

It's now your job to go to the gym and put these methods and techniques into practice.

By Nick Tumminello | 12/10/10

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/simple-program-for-complex-results

Related blog posts:

>>9 tips for dedicated strength athletes
>>7 things you can learn from competitive athletes
>>Training with weights is more effective with simulated height