When it comes to getting into shape, there are two goals people wish to accomplish: (1) building muscle mass and (2) losing body fat. Nowadays, it appears very complicated on the surface to reach either of those goals. People today are constantly hit with multiple ways to both gain muscle mass and lose weight through pills, when in reality both of these things have been done for centuries without supplements. Why have they become so complicated? This post aims to simplify what’s become nothing but a mystery through today’s media.

Gaining Muscle Mass

The science behind building muscle and getting big is probably a lot more simple than you think. In general you’ll have to ingest more calories than you’re burning everyday, while still keeping a consistent training regiment of lifting heavy weights.

In the gym, building muscle is based on two things that’re controllable:

• Low reps per set (Between 1-5 reps)
• Lifting heavier weight (Weight you can’t do 10 reps of)

The latter is crucial to building up your muscle. Normally, when your muscle fibers are torn while working out, they repair and that’s how you become stronger and more toned. But, when you are lifting heavy weights, your muscle fibers are torn beyond the extent they are normally torn and they repair and form a larger muscle. Doing this consistently will create both bigger and stronger muscles.

How consistent?

Each muscle group 2-3 times a week, for 6 weeks to see real results. If you are leaving the gym feeling good and you feel sore the next morning, you know you did the workout correctly. The key is to hit few major muscle groups for the whole workout. Full body workouts are less effective compared to hitting 1-2 muscle groups a day.

For more on what you should be eating for muscle gain, click here.

Losing Body Fat

The biggest marketing scam of the century so far has been done through the dieting industry. Every company is trying to sell products that appear effortless for people to lose weight. In reality, most of the current popular diets work (ketogenic, carnivore, etc.) as long as you stick to it. Studies showed that most people give up on the diet within the first month, because it’s “too hard to maintain”. This is a key marketing point from the dieting companies, trying to sell the idea that the dieter “doesn’t have to change anything”.

The hard truth of dieting is that the way you look now is the result of your current eating habits. Losing body fat is not as hard as people may make it it seem, it’s all about consistency.

The How-To

When it comes to losing fat, it’s all simple math.

1. Find your average caloric intake. This can be done by reading nutritional labels or doing a quick search online. Add up all of the calories you ingested all week, and divide it by 7 (days) to find your average.
2. Decrease by 10-15%. This is every day. Making an effort to lower your daily caloric intake will guarantee weight (fat) loss every week.
3. Eat more protein. Daily, it’s important to maintain a good amount of protein intake. Why? Proteins at the molecular level in your body help your metabolism function quicker and more efficiently. To know how much protein you should have daily, take your bodyweight in pounds (i.e. 170) and multiply it 1-1.25x to find the amount of grams of protein you’ll need.
4. Increase cardio workouts. IMPORTANT: Doing only cardio workouts without changing your diet will not result in a significant amount of fat loss. Having a consistent cardio workout regiment is a great add-on to your fat loss diet to help stimulate more fat loss. This can be as simple as going for a long walk or as strenuous as doing HIIT training.

The hardest thing to do sometimes is change bad habits, but replacing the bad with the good will help anyone reach the level of health they aspire to be at. Don’t overthink it!

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This concludes this post on muscle gain and fat loss, if you like what you read make sure to not only leave a like but also add your email at the bottom of the page to receive email notifications for future posts. As always feel free to reply with any questions/comments or reach out via email to brandon.admin@alookaround.blog.

Take care of yourself and someone else,

-Brandon.