Whether you are a muscle enthusiast, fitness fanatic or
casual exerciser with average muscular strength and body composition, it is
sometimes necessary to crank up the workout intensity to propel your body, mind
and psyche to the next level. This
article will explore the essential components of an abbreviated high intensity
training cycle that will help drop body fat, pack on muscle mass and enhance
your general level of physical fitness.
It is true that there is a margin of error
that is associated with the use of a skin fold caliper, but the device is ideal
for measuring progress. It is less
important that a skin fold caliper device has a margin of error of +/- 2% than
knowing that several body fat percentage points are lost over a given period of
time.
Goal Setting for Maximum Fitness Success
The first crucial step in developing any effective workout
program is to document short term and long term goals. For the purposes of this article, we will
focus on a six week period of time as a parameter for goal setting.
During this period of time, body fat
measurements should be taken and documented every seven days. Once a baseline body composition level has
been established, realistic weekly goals should be written down and assessed at
seven day intervals.
It is important to mention that everybody burns body fat and
builds muscle tissue at different rates.
Due to hormonal differences between genders, men typically lose body fat
and gain muscle mass faster than women do.
However, it can be argued that many women possess a drive and
determination that is superior and can result in rates of body fat loss and lean
muscle gains that rivals that of men. Other
factors that influence the rate that fat is lost and muscle is gained include
current fitness level, current body composition, lifestyle and genetics.
Giving consideration to the above stated factors, on average
and during an intense workout training cycle, a person can expect to lose anywhere
from three to five pounds of bodyweight per week. For some it will be a little less but for many
it can be much more.
Under the right
conditions, a person can lose 30 to 40 pounds in just six weeks. However, it is important to remain
disciplined and focused on incremental, measurable weekly progress.
While there are many different ways to approach a structured
goal oriented strategy, perhaps the simplest form involves weekly measurements
of body composition.
Understanding Body Composition
Body composition
refers to a person’s body fat weight to lean body weight ratio. Not everyone has easy access to body fat
measurement devices or fitness professionals to document and gauge body
composition levels.
While the ideal
means to measuring body fat is through a process called hydrostatic weighing,
which involves submerging a person in water to determine a precise measurement
of lean body weight compared to body fat weight, the simplest means is to
purchase a self-measuring body fat skin fold caliper device.
These devices are extremely inexpensive and
easy to use. Most come with a chart and
instructions and the tool can be used immediately.
It is true that there is a margin of error
that is associated with the use of a skin fold caliper, but the device is ideal
for measuring progress. It is less
important that a skin fold caliper device has a margin of error of +/- 2% than
knowing that several body fat percentage points are lost over a given period of
time. By self-measuring body fat,
greater accuracy can be achieved as the variance of individual measuring
methods is eliminated. By easily
measuring body fat at home with a skin fold caliper, the amount of lean
body weight compared to total body fat can be determined and goals established.
Get your skin fold caliper here.
Get your skin fold caliper here.
High Intensity Training
While it is beyond the scope of this article to prescribe a
precise training regimen for rapid fat loss and muscle building, the below
elements must be present in order to achieve the desired amount of weight loss
or muscle gain.
Frequency
During this abbreviated high intensity workout cycle,
resistance training, cardiovascular exercise and interval training should be
performed six times per week. Notice
thfat I said six times rather than six
days. Ideally, the workouts should be
performed four days per week with two
of the days having two workout sessions.
The days off of the program should not be back-to-back, but rather
spaced about three days apart.
Intensity
The workouts that are performed during the abbreviated high
intensity workout cycle should be high intensity in nature. For our purposes, intensity refers to the amount
of rest between sets of exercise or intervals, heart rate and level of
fatigue.
Generally, exercises should be performed in rapid succession
with less than one minute of rest between the primary sets of exercise or
intervals.
Intervals and sets of
resistance exercise should take between 45 seconds and two minutes with a near maximal
effort. This will drive the heart rate
well into the fat burning range of over 120 beats per minute and cause
momentary muscular failure after several sets or intervals.
Cardiovascular exercise should be performed at level of intensity
where there are intervals of high intensity output and lower intensity output. Periods
of three to five minutes of high intensity work followed by a one to two minute
recovery period is ideal.
Time
The duration of all workouts should not exceed one hour,
including warm up and cool down time.
The primary portion of the workout session when the hard work is
performed should last approximately 40 minutes.
This will allow the heart rate to be elevated for an appropriate period
of time to enhance fat loss and stress muscle tissue enough to stimulate muscle
growth.
It is important to remember that the metabolism is enhanced
for several hours following an intense workout.
The soft tissues of the body take several days to recover and food that
is ingested is used to support muscle strength gains.
Type
The beauty of an abbreviated high intensity workout cycle is
that there is an abundance of freedom in exercise type selection. These workouts can be performed at a
commercial gym, a home gym or even in your living room.
There are many at-home workout programs on
the market that implement the elements described above and provide the appropriate amount of intensity to achieve the desired result.
Diet
The topic of diet for weight loss and nutrition for muscle
building is best reserved for other articles.
Explore Destination Jacked: Muscle Headquarters and read about how diet and nutritional
supplements influence how fast and
effectively body fat is lost and muscle is gained.
By browsing and exploring the site's content, you will learn about the best strategies, workouts, diet plans and supplements for weight loss and muscle building.
Best Results
With weekly body composition measurements, you will get an
idea of the progress that is being made.
Full percentages of body fat may not be lost each week, but body fat
weight should be decreasing while lean weight should stay the same or
increase.
Initially, a reduction in lean
weight will likely be experienced due to loss of water from the intense
exercise. But after a couple of weeks,
lean weight levels should stabilize or increase.
People of all fitness levels can employ an abbreviated high intensity workout cycle to blast through a training plateau, prepare for beach
season, get in shape for a wedding or special event or just physically
challenge their body.
By taking regular body
fat measurements and setting realistic goals, rapid and significant loss in
body fat levels can occur along with noticeable improvements of muscle mass and
physical strength. However, the level of success is dependent
upon discipline, dedication and consistency.
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