Is there a cheat code to get abs faster?
What is the best way to build muscle mass quickly? How much exercise do I need per week? What kind of diet will work best for me? Do I have any genetic predispositions towards building muscle or losing fat easily or slowly? Are there supplements that can speed up my body’s natural processes and make them more efficient at doing what they’re supposed to do better than anything else out there right now?
These are all questions that every person with an interest in fitness has asked themselves over the years. And while most of us aren’t going to come up with the answer to each one, we can probably agree on some of them. So let’s try to figure out which ones apply to you.
The first thing we need to do is decide what our goals are when it comes to getting ripped. If your goal is just to look good naked then you don’t really care too much about building muscle. You might even say that you’re not interested in gaining muscle mass at all! On the other hand, if your goal is to gain strength and size so that you can compete against the guys in the gym, then building muscle would be a great place to start.
So which one should we focus on first? Building Muscle or losing fat?
Here’s how I look at it… if you’re over 15% body fat you need to focus on losing that fat before you start worrying about building muscle. On the other hand, if you’re around 10% then you can go ahead and start hitting the weights because the foundation is already there. You can build upon it now.
But which one should you actually start with? How do you lose fat if you want to get ripped?
Losing fat is a pretty straight forward process. If you want to lose 1 pound of fat, you just need to burn off 3,500 calories worth of energy. This is why diets like Jenny Craig and those herbalife shakes are so popular. They produce a lot of weight loss over a short period of time without you having to change your lifestyle too much.
But in the long run, none of that really works for anybody because it’s not sustainable in the long run.
What happens when you stop using the shakes?
You gain all that weight right back because you don’t have a change in lifestyle. This is why most people regain all the weight they lost within 1 to 2 years.
The key to losing fat is to make small, permanent changes to your lifestyle so that you can keep the weight off forever. This is why seeing a doctor before starting any new diet or exercise routine is crucial. There might be certain things you’re doing that you don’t even know are causing you to gain weight. Once you figure those out, then you can start making the necessary changes and see a difference almost immediately.
So what are some of these changes?
Let’s take a look…
1. Drink more water:
We’ve all heard this one before but how many of us actually do it?
Your body is mostly made up of water so you should be drinking at least 10 glasses per day. Some people say 8 glasses while other say 12 glasses but 10 sounds about right to me. Remember the rule of 3’s: Our bodies are made up of 30 trillion cells, the brain consists of about 100 billion neurons and more than 30km of blood vessels. Doesn’t take a genius to know that a lot of water is needed to keep us running.
This may also seem like a no-brainer but how often do you go to the bathroom?
If it’s not after every meal then you’re not drinking enough water. Your pee should be very light yellow, almost clear. Anything darker means that you’re not drinking enough water and your body is storing the water instead. This makes you look bloated and fat even if you’re not.
2. Watch what you eat: Here’s where we have the most disagreement.
While I generally agree that a lot of diet books are total crap, some of the principles are sound. If you eat less than you burn, you will lose weight. If you eat more than you burn, you will gain weight. It’s just that simple.
Most diet plans just have different guidelines is all.
My best advice here is to not take anybody’s word for it. Anybody, even me. You need to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t by experimentation. What I will say is this: the less processed a food is, the better it is for you (herbalife is an exception as we learned earlier).
Add some regular exercise into the mix and you should see some decent results. It really isn’t all that complicated.
3. Exercise: This is important because it helps you burn off extra calories and keeps your metabolism running at peak efficiency.
It’s also just as simple as the last step. Do some exercise! Walk more, take the stairs, play with your kids, climb a tree, jump on a trampoline, anything that gets you moving. It’s not about how much you do, it’s just about doing some every day.
This does get a bit more complicated though as far as working out is concerned. You’re going to need to learn what exercises work the best for you and how to do those exercises properly. This guide isn’t really the place to teach you all that, there are plenty of other guides for that just off the homepage. These guides can help you get started though:
Thanks for reading and best of luck on your journey!
~InsomniaSoul
P.S. If you want to talk to other people about this stuff, or just have a place to ask more questions, please visit our messageboard by clicking here!
P.P.S. If you want to know what others are saying about this post or any of the guides, click on the forums tab and read what everyone is saying!
Sources & references used in this article:
Code: And other laws of cyberspace by L Lessig – 2009 – books.google.com
Advances in technology and new product development in the beer, wine, and spirit industry by T Pitock – FORBES, 2007 – FORBES INC 60 FIFTH AVE, NEW …
Body panic: Gender, health, and the selling of fitness by I Russell, J Kellershohn – Innovations in Technologies for Fermented Food …, 2018 – Springer
