The Daily News – Fit to Be Tried by Devin Sherrington
We stood on stage last Saturday at the Rebecca Cohn, oiled and tanned, flexing for all we were worth. We hadn’t had water in 24 hours and had dieted a trained like mad for several months. All to have a group of people we didn’t know judge who had the best body.
So how the heck can bodybuilding be good for you?
My wife asks me that all the time and I tell her the same thing I’ll tell you. It’s not that good for you.
But while the sport of bodybuilding is hard on you, some of the training tricks which bodybuilders to can make anyone leaner and more healthy.
I’m not talking about the hours on a stationary bike or pushing huge amounts of weight. I mean the principles behind the fat loss which bodybuilder must go through can work for anyone looking to lose a few pounds.
You see bodybuilding is all about using tricks to get leaner so you’ll look good on stage. One excellent trick is increasing the tempo at which you workout.
Bodybuilding exercise to lose fat is done at a rapid tempo, for a short time periods. The idea is to get your heart rate up and keep it up through out your work out.
My rule of thumb is to take no more than a one-minute break between sets. This will mean you won’t be able to lift as much weight as you have before, but that isn’t what you’re looking to do.
Short rests between sets will allow you to just catch your breath. Then it’s right back to the exercise. This pumps your heart rate up in a very similar way to doing cardio. Your body will burn fat more quickly, because your heart is working harder than it would be if you took longer breaks.
You don’t need to be in the gym all day either. Eight sets per body part, with a minute break between, is certainly enough to get you fat burning. It’s the same idea as cardio, work hard for 40 minutes or so then go home and rest. You will have burned fat and worked your muscles hard in the process.
Another trick bodybuilders use is called carbohydrate manipulation. This basically means changing your carb levels from day to day so your body will be tricked into burning more at.
Bodybuilders often work on a four-day split where they eat low carbohydrate amounts for four days and then have a high carbohydrate day. The idea is that your body will burn fat in the low carbohydrate days, because it doesn’t have many carbs to use. As it does your metabolism will slow down since you’re eating less food.
That’s why on the fourth day you eat more carbohydrates so speed up your metabolism again, before going back to low carb days.
When I say low carb days I mean one gram of carbs per pound of bodyweight. That’s low enough to make your body burn fat. Anything less is hard on your body and your mind. You’ll end up craving foods all day long if you go lower.
On the fourth day eat lots of carbs. In fact eat whatever you want. I’m talking MacDonald’s, pizza, chips, the works.
Trust me it won’t hurt you any and your body will be happy you ate it. When you’re back to dieting the next day you’ll feel better and have fewer cravings for junk food.
Give these two simple bodybuilding tricks a try. They might not look like much but I think you’ll be surprised how the pounds fall off your body.
