Subject: IRON MAN E-Zine: Issue #334:
3 Fast Fat-to-Muscle Tips to Get You Ripped
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3 Fast Fat-to-Muscle Tips to Get You Ripped
If you’re like us, you’re a little concerned. Spring has sprung and summer will be here before you can say, “Who stole my abs.” When the heat hits, you don’t want to be the victim of an ab-napping. It’s a lot more fun if you peel off your shirt that first warm day at the beach and your midsection looks like acid-etched granite.
Of course there is a down side. You have to put up with all the glares, stares and the questions, like, “Man, how do I get ripped?” or “What workout are you on?” or “Can I touch your abs?” (which, hopefully, comes from a hot babe).
If you’re willing to put up with that small downside but loads of up–including sky-high self-esteem and gals raising eyebrows, then it’s time to focus on fast fat-to-muscle effects. Here are a few tips to get you ripped and ready before summer screams, “Surprise”:
1) Do one set slow to rip and grow. The latest research shows that the muscle microtrauma you trigger in the gym helps you burn fat for days after as your body repairs the damage. That’s great news because you burn fat even when you’re sitting still. To get more microtrauma, all you have to do is slow down the negative, or lowering, stroke of one set–and you significantly increase your fat-to-muscle effects.
In The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout we describe those Negative-Accentuated sets, which is simply raising the weight in about 1.5 seconds but lowering in six seconds–you accentuate the negative stroke on each and every rep of an NA set. Doing about seven of those NA reps for each bodypart is all it takes to jack up your postworkout fat burn. As prescribed in that e-workout program, the big compound, or midrange exercises are best. Simply do your last set in NA style.
New research also shows that the negative stroke may be the size key as well, which makes NA sets even more important. More size, as adipose says adios–now we’re talking! (Note: For trainees using the 10×10 method, you’re doing 100 negatives in each 10-set grouping, so you may not need NA sets. 10×10 alone produces a lot of microtrauma on its own; however, if you don’t get some muscle soreness, you may want to tack on an NA set to accelerate your fat-to-muscle results.)
2) Go for the burn to fry fat. New research studies [Eu J Appl Physiol. In press. 2009.] as well as older ones [Can J Appl Physiol. 22:244-255. 1997] have shown that shorter rests between sets and muscle burn heighten muscle-fiber recruitment as well as anabolic hormone surges.
Those hormones include testosterone, which builds muscle and burns belly fat, as well as growth hormone, which also plays a role in hypertrophy but is even more potent at incinerating ugly fat. So if you want to roar down the road to ripped, you must go for the burn…
The best time and place to sear a muscle is at the end of each bodypart workout. Finish off each muscle with a set or two of an isolation, or contracted-position, exercise, like concentration curls for biceps or lateral raises for delts. That will help you build muscle, burn fat and bring out some gnarly vascularity…
You must keep tension on the muscle throughout the set, but to get a serious searing effect…
A. Do a set slow-mo style for 8 to 10 reps–3 seconds up and 3 seconds down
B. Do higher reps, like 12 to 20, at a standard 2-up/2-down cadence
C. Do a drop set–two sets back to back with a weight reduction. [In our e-workout programs a drop set is written as 8(6), which means do eight reps to exhaustion, reduce the weight and immediately do a second set to exhaustion–hitting the wall at around six reps.]
D. Do a 10×10 sequence–take a weight with which you could get 20 reps, but do 10; rest 30 seconds, do 10 more reps, rest 30 seconds, etc., until you’ve done 10 sets. That ignites a fierce fat-burning firestorm in about 10 minutes.
3) Tap into fat stores faster. You’ve read all the latest news about how interval cardio, like sprinting the straightaways and walking the curves on a running track, can burn bodyfat faster than steady-state work. One of the reasons is muscle microtrauma in the lower body due to the all-out sprints. Hmm, interval cardio sounds a lot like a fast-paced weight workout (especially if you’re using NA sets as in #1 above and/or the 10×10 method).
So if you’re doing heavy leg work during the week, you don’t want to overdo interval-style cardio–you could do it may be once or twice a week, if your legs recover quickly.
As for steady-state cardio, do a little immediately after every weight workout. Why? Because your weight work will have totally depleted the energy substrates (sugar) in your bloodstream. With no sugar to burn for energy, your postworkout cardio taps into bodyfat stores almost immediately. More blubber-busting bang for your cardio buck.
In other words, you don’t need to do as much to get the fat-burning job done when you do it after your weight workouts. Keep in mind that your intensity should be fairly low–go only hard enough so your breathing is only slightly elevated. Ten minutes? Fifteen minutes? You can decide. In the Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout programs we suggest a quick 15 minutes on the treadmill after each weight workout.
The time is now: Summer is almost here, so get your fat-to-muscle workouts in gear. You want to impress when you undress!
Till next time, train hard.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
Latest e-book release:
•Eric Broser’s Power/Rep Range/Shock Workout gives you all the everything you need to apply his max-mass system for incredible new gains–including all 12 printable workouts and a big Q&A section.
•The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout contains a four-days-per-week, one-ultimate-exercise-per-bodypart program and also a heavy/light version, with heavy POF alternated with a one-exercise 10×10 routine. More details.
•The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout is based on the latest metabolic research so you can get bigger and leaner fast without long, mind-numbing cardio–you’ll burn fat and build muscle 24/7 with customized mass-building weight workouts.
Click on the e-books for more information:
Newbies: If you’re a beginning bodybuilder, coming back from a layoff or a trainer who trains beginners, our new e-book, Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide, is for you.
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This Special Report was submitted by Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman.
The IRON MAN Training & Research Team
www.ironmanmagazine.com
The ITRC Training Newsletter is not intended as training advice for everyone. You must consult your physician before beginning any diet or training program. You may forward this email to as many friends as you want, but do not photocopy or reprint this report in any format without the written permission of the copyright holder.
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May 2009:
See the big, brawny bodies from the ’09 IRON MAN Pro in full-page vivid color. We have loads of photos of the fantastic physiques from the L.A. Convention Center stage, all practically jumping off the page. Then top Pro Moe El Moussawi gets the L.T. interview treatment, and Jerry Brainum talks to top nutrition scientist Anthony Almada. Plus, more fat-to-muscle workout techniques from the Train, Eat, Grow men, the complete Volume/Intensity Fusion Workout, the Super 7 Size Surge Supplements and how to get big arms without curling. And let’s not forget transformation sensation Kyle Harris, who used Power/Rep Range/Shock to morph into a drug-free pro. Look for the May issue on newsstandsnow. See the Table of Contents here for a full preview.
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