EXERCISE PRESCRIPTION
BY JOHN BASEDOW

GAIN MUSCLE MASS AND LOSE BODY FAT

Ever since I started doing personal phone consultations and designing workout and nutrition programs for people who ordered my video, Fitness Made Simple, I'd have to say the two most popular questions posed are:

1.) How can I build muscle without getting fat?  And 2.) How can I get that defined, ripped look without becoming too thin?

It's a catch-22 situation of trying to gain and lose at the same time.  Chances are you've faced this frustration at some point in your training.  I know I have.  All too often the scenario goes like this: We try to feed our muscles and stimulate growth only to find that, instead of increasing our biceps measurements, we've just added inches to our waistlines.  Or, in an effort to get that tight six-pack of abs, we've dieted and starved ourselves to the point where, when we look in the mirror, we're horrified to see a stick figure peering back at us.
It doesn't help that every time we open a magazine we're bombarded by many promises of some miracle product claiming to be the fat-burning, muscle-building answer to our prayers.  Now don't get me wrong, some of these products do help, but you have to first adjust your body with the basics - proper nutrition and training - before fine-tuning with supplements.

Everyone wants a quick fix, but I wouldn't believe anyone who offers one.  Instead, I've come across a few simple formulas that I've seen work wonders.  Since everyone's body is different, you might have to experiment a bit with these regimens to see which is best for you.  After all, what we're trying to do is trick our bodies.

CALORIE FORMULAS

When it comes to gaining or losing weight, the almighty calorie not only counts, it reigns supreme.  To get cut or lose weight, try a daily total calorie intake using the "Bodyweight X 10" formula.  For example, a I 90-lb. person who wants to increase definition could start off with a daily nutrition plan of 1900 calories.  This calorie level helps to lose extra water and fat weight without sacrificing much hard-earned muscle tissue.

 For those who want to maintain weight, gain muscle and lose fat, try the "Bodyweight x 12" system. In this instance, a 190lb. person would eat around 2230 calories. For those hard gainers out there desperately trying to gain muscle who aren't too concerned with a little fat, a daily nutrition plan of "Bodyweight x 15" might do the trick - about 2850 calories a day.

Whatever your goal, these formulas are starting points.  Depending on your metabolism, training level and a variety of other factors, adjustments may have to be implemented to get positive results.  This should be done with gradual experimentation.  For instance, start by raising or lowering your calories by 100-200 each day for a week to see where that gets you.  But whatever you do, don't make drastic changes that will result in muscle mass loss or unwanted fat gain.

THE NUTRIENT SPLIT

The key to making our bodies put those calories to use where we want them is by 'manipulating the macronutrients.' Everyone should know food is divided into three basic groups: Proteins, carbohydrates and fats.  These are known as macronutrients and how they're combined in our daily diets makes an unbelievable difference in the way we look and feel.

I like to follow a nutrient split made up of 40 percent protein, 30-40 percent carbohydrates and 20-30 percent fat to maintain muscle size and keep fat to a minimum. Yes, you read that correctly, 20-30 percent fat. One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to get lean is to eliminate all fat from their diets. Besides being essential for healthy skin and hair, fat is involved in the production of various hormones, including testosterone, that control a variety of biochemical processes in the body. It's also most impossible to build muscle on an extremely low fat diet.  We even need fat to processes body fat metabolism and, if we reduce our fat intake too low, our bodies have a self defense mechanism that causes them to cling onto body fat for safety.  That's why when many dieters reach a certain point they can't lose that last bit of fat (usually at the waists and lower backs of men, and hips and thighs in women) even when they drop calories lower and lower.

One trick to avoid this situation is to add some essential fatty acids (i.e., flaxseed oil) and monounsaturated fats (i.e., all-natural peanut butter and avocados) to your nutrition plan.  This fat intake should equal about 20 percent of your daily calories.

Now that I've sung some of the praises of fat our meal let's get back to the nutrient split.  Keeping our meal breakdown around 40 percent protein/30 percent carbs/30 percent fat - or even at equal proportions of all three - ensures a steady flow of nutrients to the muscles, holds blood sugar and insulin levels stable and forces our bodies to dip into body fat reserves for energy.  Since we already know a few good fats, some good protein sources for this plan include chicken and turkey breast, tuna, egg whites and whey protein powders.

Carbohydrates should be obtained from lower glycemic sources such as fibrous vegetables ,oatmeal, and crunchy fruits like apples and pears.

To help cut up for a photo shoot or a vacation, in addition to the 'Bodyweight x 10' calorie plan, only minor alterations in our maintenance nutrient splits are necessary.  I notice great short-term results by increasing protein intake to 50 percent, while keeping carbs no higher than 30 percent and fat at 20 percent.

Since carbs are notorious for causing water retention, the increased protein and decreased carb levels tend to have a mild diuretic effect by helping us drop some excess water weight.  As we all know, this excess water tends to smooth out our striations.  Studies have shown that added protein also acts a natural appetite suppressant, making it easier to stick to our allotted calories for the day.  And with fewer carbohydrates - the body's preferred source - floating around in our systems, our bodies will burn more stored body fat.

THE TRAINING

Since we now know what and how to eat, let's go over how we can tailor training efforts in the gym to pack on muscle while shedding fat.  The buzzwords for any weight training routine should be "short" and "intense." Three to four days a week of pumping iron for about an hour at a time should be all we need to see quality improvements in our physiques. Any more time and the "non-chemically assisted" trainee could begin to breakdown rather than build muscle tissue.  After all we want to stimulate our muscles so they grow and they need rest to rebuild themselves bigger and stronger.

 Assuming you have the basic regimen check but you're still sporting a "hangover" gut and hating those love handles, increase your cardiovascular exercise along with following the aforementioned dietary changes. Generally, 30-40 minutes of cardio activity performed 4-5 days a week, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, is a fat cell's worst enemy.  After 8-10 hours of fasting during sleep, our body's blood sugar and insulin levels are low and this is the perfect environment for fat-burning.  In fact, one study showed people burned as much as 200-300 percent more body fat this way than when cardio was done later in the day after meals.

 The cardio session can be done on a stationary bike, treadmill, stair climber, or just walking or jogging.  The choice is up you. Just try to make your cardio activity low impact to keep your heart rate in a fat burning mode.  A simple tip to follow is that, while doing your cardio, you should be able to carry on a conversation without losing your breath.  If you're huffing puffing while pedaling on the Lifecycle you could be working too hard and possibly breaking down muscle fibers in the process.

If you already have a low body fat percentage, you can lessen or eliminate the cardio activity; however, if you have more than a few pounds of fat to lose, you might want to increase the frequency or duration your sessions until you get your body fat down to a level you're happy with.

By making some simple adjustments in training, calorie intake, and the type foods you're eating, you can create a long term shift in metabolism, turning your body into a muscle building, fat burning machine.  All you need to do is put these individual pieces of the fitness puzzle together.  You'll be amazed when you step in front of the mirror and see the well-chiseled, pumped-up picture you've created.

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