One thing I have learnt a significant amount of knowledge on and have been working on a lot through my own trial and error over the last few years is how to preserve as much muscle as possible while losing body fat.
A few years ago I did a “shred” where I put myself in a calorie deficit for far too long. I ran myself down to the ground and I got myself down to 92-93kgs which for me is far too light.
Some of the things I have learnt in this time and that I incorporate now when dieting/shredding is below:
- Lifting and moving more weight is everything. Now let me be clear. Overall VOLUME across the week is what I am specifically referring to. You want to follow a program that has you carefully moving more weight each week in a smart, periodic fashion. To increase muscle and to preserve muscle you MUST be increasing the overall volume you’re lifting each week. Setting strength goals during a Shred is absolutely VITAL in this process.
- My next tip is not going to failure on every single set. Yep I said it. Going to complete failure on every single set put’s an extreme amount of pressure on the central nervous system and stress hormones which effects muscle recovery. If we can’t recover properly then we can’t stay consistent with gradual improvements of our overall training volume therefore we stop progressing . I always advise my clients to only go to failure on the last set of each exercise. We use the progression rep scheme on each exercise where you stop at the lower rep target on the first few sets and then only go to complete failure on the last set and wherever possible progress on that set. It’s that last set on each exercise that is key and the magic set in terms of muscle growth. Going to complete failure on EVERY single set will only have you going backwards fast.
- Recovery in this game is everything. To lose fat and to build lean muscle we don’t always necessarily need to train MORE we just need to increase the overall load as mentioned above. Having complete rest days allows the body to recover to then ensure we continue to progress with our weights. The time spent out of the gym is just as important as the time spent in the gym.
- Vary and mix up your rep ranges. I get tired of the myth high reps “burn fat” and low reps make you “bulky”. BOTH serve a purpose in the shredding and muscle building world. Use both schemes instead of just a sticking to one size fits all as your results will then be limited.
- This last one is key which is giving yourself short, small diet breaks so what I mean by this is not spending long, endless times in a calorie deficit. This is where I went wrong 2 years ago and suffered. My training was awful and I ran myself to the ground. Burn more calories than that you consume (aka calorie deficit) for a period of time yes absolutely, BUT bring yourself back out again by slowly increasing your food giving your body a break from low calories to help preserve more muscle and to allow the metabolism to work in your favor again. Massive wins in the fat loss and muscle building world.
Hope this helps guys.
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