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ARTICLES
Weighted Ab Exercises: 3 Simple Movements
When people start their fitness journey, getting well-developed abs is usually one of the main goals. I was no different. Looking back, I used to do a ton of crunches in the hopes of getting ripped abs. But I did all of this without putting enough thought into my...
Training Frequency: What is the best workout split?
In the past two articles, we have looked into training volume and intensity. Based on these articles, we now know that most people should train every muscle group with about 10-20 sets per week in a 5-15 rep range. If you get this right, you will experience...
Training Intensity: Best Rep Range For Muscle Growth
Introduction In the previous blog post, we've looked into training volume and muscle growth. The main takeaway was that training every muscle group with about 10-20 sets per week is a good starting point for muscle growth. But as you can imagine, just how many plain...
Weighted Ab Exercises: 3 Simple Movements
When people start their fitness journey, getting well-developed abs is usually one of the main goals. I was no different. Looking back, I used to do a ton of crunches in the hopes of getting ripped abs. But I did all of this without putting enough thought into my...
Training Frequency: What is the best workout split?
In the past two articles, we have looked into training volume and intensity. Based on these articles, we now know that most people should train every muscle group with about 10-20 sets per week in a 5-15 rep range. If you get this right, you will experience...
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When the goal is losing fat, there is often a sense of urgency. But perhaps this mindset is the reason why many people find it hard to get lasting fat loss results. Like most things that are worth having, losing significant amounts of fat in a healthy way takes time. Swipe left for more details on fat loss pace.
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Most people don't just want to lose weight. They want to lose fat while maintaining muscle. If you aim to lose weight too quickly, there is an increased risk of muscle loss. In a 2011 study, the researchers compared losing 0.7 versus 1.4% of your bodyweight per week [1]. The group of athletes that lost 1.4% of their bodyweight per week experienced muscle and strength loss, whereas the group with a slower weight loss pace preserved more muscle. This is in line with a 2010 study showing that having a moderate weight loss pace allowed for more bench press strength development to occur compared to a fast weight loss rate [2].
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The exact fat loss rate to maintain depends on the individual. As a general guideline, a 2014 research review suggests that losing between 0.5-1% of your total body weight per week is an effective goal for achieving fat loss while preserving muscle [3]. So for an 80kg individual, this is losing 0.4-0.8kg per week. This may sound slow to some. But try to imagine yourself 3 years from now. You won't care if your fat loss diet lasted 3 or 6 months. You will care about having achieved the desired result and having healthy nutrition habits that help you maintain your progress.
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Two quick final points, the guideline is this video is just that, a guideline. You can always lose fat at your own pace. Even if you lose fat slowly, progress is progress and it adds up over time. Also, next to tracking your bodyweight, also track alternative progress measures like your waist measurement and how your clothes fit. Looking at just your bodyweight does not always paint a complete picture.
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See the last slide for scientific references. Background music by the amazing @iamryanlittle](https://www.iwannaburnfat.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
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When the goal is losing fat, there is often a sense of urgency. But perhaps this mindset is the reason why many people find it hard to get lasting fat loss results. Like most things that are worth having, losing significant amounts of fat in a healthy way takes time. Swipe left for more details on fat loss pace.
-
Most people don't just want to lose weight. They want to lose fat while maintaining muscle. If you aim to lose weight too quickly, there is an increased risk of muscle loss. In a 2011 study, the researchers compared losing 0.7 versus 1.4% of your bodyweight per week [1]. The group of athletes that lost 1.4% of their bodyweight per week experienced muscle and strength loss, whereas the group with a slower weight loss pace preserved more muscle. This is in line with a 2010 study showing that having a moderate weight loss pace allowed for more bench press strength development to occur compared to a fast weight loss rate [2].
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The exact fat loss rate to maintain depends on the individual. As a general guideline, a 2014 research review suggests that losing between 0.5-1% of your total body weight per week is an effective goal for achieving fat loss while preserving muscle [3]. So for an 80kg individual, this is losing 0.4-0.8kg per week. This may sound slow to some. But try to imagine yourself 3 years from now. You won't care if your fat loss diet lasted 3 or 6 months. You will care about having achieved the desired result and having healthy nutrition habits that help you maintain your progress.
-
Two quick final points, the guideline is this video is just that, a guideline. You can always lose fat at your own pace. Even if you lose fat slowly, progress is progress and it adds up over time. Also, next to tracking your bodyweight, also track alternative progress measures like your waist measurement and how your clothes fit. Looking at just your bodyweight does not always paint a complete picture.
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See the last slide for scientific references. Background music by the amazing @iamryanlittle
📚 This post is an iWannaBurnFat Classic
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A push-up is one of the most simple exercises you can perform. For those training at home, a 2015 study found that doing weighted push-ups helps with bench press strength performance [1]. But there are many push-up variations. In today's post, I will show 16 different push-up variations. Each variation has a different training goal. Swipe left for more.
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This is not an exhaustive list, but it gives you an overview of the main options. First, we discuss options for the chest. A traditional push-up and decline push-up. After this, we have 2 triceps dominant variations at different levels of intensity (Close-Grip + Triceps Push-Ups). It is also possible to mimic a shoulder press with the Pike Push-Up variation. Doing Pike Push-Ups with your feet elevated helps provide a great challenge to your shoulders.
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Next to training specific muscle groups, we can use push-ups to train specific strength skills, like training explosive strength, mobility, or 1-arm strength. A noteworthy push-up variation is the "Supine Push-Up". This is a Push-Up variation that helps you focus on the back muscles. The range of motion is limited, so we can't expect great back development from this movement. But it's still a nice variation to include for upper back strength if you are limited on equipment.
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Swipe left to see the variations and let me know if you have any questions!
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Reference:
1. Calatayud, Joaquin, et al. "Bench press and push-up at comparable levels of muscle activity results in similar strength gains." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 29.1 (2015): 246-253.
🎬 New YouTube video just went live! I discuss the 5 biggest muscle growth mistakes I made at the start of my journey. So you don't have to make the same mistakes and can work towards your goals in a more efficient way! Visit the link in my bio or go to YouTube.com/iWannaBurnFat to check the new video.
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In the rest of this post, I will discuss one of the 5 mistakes mentioned in the video, which is chasing training fatigue instead of progressive overload.
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First things first, your training sessions should be challenging if you want to develop muscle. If you do not challenge yourself in training, your muscles won't have a reason to adapt and grow. And it is normal if in your training journey you experience some soreness and sometimes feel more fatigued. But this doesn't mean that we should actively pursue "exhaustion" in every workout. Feeling sore by itself doesn't produce progress [1]. Progressive overload produces progress. Challenging your muscles beyond their present capacity by consistently improving your workout performance results in muscle development.
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If you swipe left and check the 2nd slide, you can find 2 common mistakes people often make in training. The first one is doing cardio in between your sets of lifting weights. Now, if your goal is improving muscular endurance, this is fine. But if developing/maintaining muscle while losing fat is the goal, this is counterproductive. The additional cardio will fatigue you for your working sets, resulting in less effective strength training. If you want to do cardio for more calorie-burn, do it after or outside of your training [2].
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Also, having very short rest periods to feel your muscles "burn" more typically does more harm than good. Research consistently shows that shorter rest periods compromise your performance and training volume, resulting in less muscle and strength gain [3].
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So if your goal is developing muscle and strength, don't focus on "fatiguing" yourself in training. But focus on progressively overloading your lifts. Visit the link in my bio to learn about more common muscle growth mistakes!
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References:
1. PMID: 21270317
2. PMID: 27863207
3. PMID: 26605807
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You may have heard before that your body can only absorb 30g of protein per meal. Is this actually true and is there a protein absorption limit? Swipe left for a science-based answer.
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First of all, the 30g protein absorption limit does not make much sense since the small intestines, which is the place where most protein is absorbed, can absorb large amounts of nutrients. So if we talk about absorption, your body can absorb much more than 30g of protein per meal.
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But there is a difference between protein absorption and protein utilization. The right question to ask in this case is, how much protein can your body utilize towards building muscle per meal? And this depends on the situation. For instance, one study found that eating 20g of protein was enough to maximize muscle protein synthesis after a leg training session [1]. While when doing a full-body day, other research shows that eating up to 40g of protein in a meal helps with maximizing muscle growth [2]. Also, a 100-kilogram advanced bodybuilder will need a different amount of protein than a 70-kilogram beginner trainee.
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To help determine your protein needs, a 2018 review paper investigated how much protein you should eat per meal to maximize muscle development [3]. The researchers suggest that having a per-meal protein intake of 0.4-0.55g/kg of your body weight is a good aim. So if we have an 80-kilogram individual, that is consuming between 32-44g of protein per meal for max muscle growth.
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See the last slide for scientific references! Background music by the amazing @iamryanlittle
🏠 It's been a while since I posted a home-workout "Gym-Replacer". But I know many people currently train at home. So in today's post, I share a Full-Body workout you can do with only a pair of dumbbells.
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We include several compound exercises to effectively train the major muscle groups of your body. It starts with a Dumbbell Floor Press that we use to train a horizontal push. Followed by a Dumbbell Bent-Over Row to train a pull variation. After the rows, we have a 1.5-Rep Goblet Squats. The 1.5-Rep Goblet Squat is a great variation to use if you only have limited weights at home. Even with light dumbbells this exercise can provide a good challenge.
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Next, we train a 1-Legged Hip Thrust to focus on the glutes. The 5th exercise is a One-Arm Shoulder Press as a replacement for the Overhead Press. The One-Arm Shoulder Press is another exercise in which you don't need much weight to make the movement a challenge. We finish off this workout with some biceps and shoulder isolation work.
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As usual, I have added suggestion for the number of repetitions/sets. But if you need to change the repetitions based on your equipment availability, feel free to do so.
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🎵 Background music by the amazing @iamryanlittle
🏃The "interference effect" describes how doing too much cardio can interfere with muscle and strength gain.
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Recently I discussed how separating your cardio and lifting sessions by at least 6 hours reduces the interference effect [1]. Today, I'd like to further expand on this topic by discussing how the type of cardio you do (and when) can influence your results.
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There's research indicating the interference effect is local [2, 3]. Lower body based cardio (like running and cycling) doesn't interfere with upper body muscle development. So if you want to train cardio and strength in the same session, one effective way to program your cardio is by having lower-body dominant cardio after upper body training. Based on the same theory, you can also consider upper body-dominant cardio (e.g. battle ropes) after lower body training.
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This way, you can minimize the interference effect while doing cardio and lifting weights in the same session. It's worth noting that this is a small training detail that's more relevant for intermediate/advanced trainees.
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References:
1. Robineau, Julien, et al. "Specific training effects of concurrent aerobic and strength exercises depend on recovery duration." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 30.3 (2016): 672-683.
2. Blagrove, R. (2014). Professional Strength and Conditioning, 32, 13-20.
3. Wilson, Jacob M., et al. "Concurrent training: a meta-analysis examining interference of aerobic and resistance exercises." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 26.8 (2012): 2293-2307.
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🎵 Music by @iamryanlittle - Desert Sand