A Split Body Part Mass Building and Fat Loss Workout Routine.

It's often noted that bodybuilders tend to be extremists. Whether this is just a natural personality tendency among us, or it is a result of the habits with which it takes to induce noticeable and lasting physical changes in our physique, it does ring true for a large majority. Even when taking training out of the equation, what other group of people, or athletes, puts themselves through the dietary rigors of a bodybuilder?

Eating enough to feed a small country while on a bulking phase yet turning around and barely subsisting on enough calories to feed a bird while on a cutting phase.

Anyone who's ever truly been on a real bulking phase or a cutting phase will know exactly what extremes I'm talking about. In order to gain muscle the body needs food and lots of it coupled with a reduction of all extraneous activities. In order to shed fat after building this muscle the body needs much few calories and lots more tedious cardiovascular type exercise. To try and embark on a mutual compromise between bulking and cutting typically brings compromising results in either direction.

However, with science, information, and understanding on how the various systems of the body function, we can better understand and apply correct exercise and nutritional timing to better enable us to achieve the goal of mass building and muscle toning simultaneously. The plan I am about to unfold here is, as only a bodybuilder would have it, a bit extreme. However, if dedicated to and followed, it will enable you to achieve these 2 mutually exclusive goals simultaneously by taking advantage of nutrient and exercise timing.

What we are going to do is take advantage of the body's hormonal state as it pertains to day to day circadian rhythms, exercise, and nutrient timing. The plan involves periods of both rather extreme underfeeding for fat loss, and rather extreme overfeeding for muscle gain coupled with both training for fat loss (cardio, HIT) and training for muscle gain (heavy weights). Basically what will be happening is you'll be in a fat burning mode the majority of the time eating lower carbs and calories and performing fat burning activities like regular cardio and HIT cardio to help in this aspect.

The rest of the time you'll either be sleeping, hitting the iron heavy and hard, or eating like a madman to drive protein synthesis, build muscle, and take advantage of the anabolic hormones induced by the weight training and feeding schedule. So let's take a look at the nuts and bolts of the mass building and muscle toning routine.

Cardio

Some form of cardio should be done 3-6 days per and alternated between longer, slow duration cardio, and HIT cardio. Walking on a slightly inclined treadmill for 45 minutes is an ideal form of the longer duration cardio which should be performed on weight training days (up to 3x per week) and sprinting outdoors, on a treadmill and/or cycling is an ideal form of HIT cardio which should be done on weight training off days (2-3x per week). For the HIT portion there are many different methods of implementing this.

I like to keep the work:rest intervals a little longer than most at 1:2. As an example, after a 4 minute slow jog/cycle warm up perform 20 seconds of all out sprints followed by 40 seconds of jogging repeated for 8-12 sets with a 4 minute cooldown of slow jogging at the end. If there is one key to HIT cardio it is to keep it creative. Basically, the more you struggle with fat gain and/or loss, the more cardio and HIT sessions you'll need to perform with 3 cardio and 3 HIT cardio sessions being the max. Those somewhere in the middle of the metabolic continuum should perform 3 HIT sessions and ditch the regular cardio sessions. Those with excellent metabolisms might find they need only 1 or 2 HIT sessions per week.

Workout Routine

The actual content of your mass building and muscle toning routine is not nearly as important as the timing. It is important for this program that your weight training sessions be done sometime in the late afternoon/early evening to allow you to burn fat throughout the day as this is the time when you'll be eating a lower calorie/low carb diet. Also make sure you schedule the weight training early enough in the evening so that you are allowed a minimum of 6 hours between your weight training session and bedtime as this is the time you will be overfeeding to drive protein synthesis and replenish glycogen stores. Doing so too early in the day would halt fat burning for the rest of the day and put a damper on our training and fat burning economy.

The mass building and muscle toning weight lifting routine should be done 3x per week on alternate days, M/W/F or Tu/Thu/Sat being ideal. The training sessions should consist of heavy, basic compound movements with some overlap. In other words, don't make any sessions arms only as you want workouts that stimulate a lot of anabolic hormones and muscle mass. The following is a 3-day weight lifting routine you can follow:

Chest and Back Focus

Power Snatch: 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps
Dumbell Bench Press: 2 x 8-12
Incline Bench Press: 2 x 8-12
Decline Bench Press: 1 x 8-12
Bent Over Row: 3 x 8-12
Weighted Dip: 3 x 8-12
Weighted Pull Ups (Palms Out): 2 x 8-12

Legs Focus

Power Clean: 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps
Barbell Squat: 3 x 8-12
Glute Hame Raise: 3 x 8-12
Side Lunges: 2 x 8-12
Deadlift: 2 x 8-12
Seated Calf Raises: 2 x 8-12

Shoulders, Traps, and Arms focus

Military Press: 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps
Upright Rows: 2 x 8-12
Lateral Raise: 2 x 8-12
Shoulder Fly: 2 x 8-12
Preacher Curl: 2 x 8-12
Skull-Crushers: 2 x 8-12
Hammer Curl: 2 x 8-12
Tricep Row Pushdowns: 2 x 8-12

Low calorie/low carb portion

Duration - All day on weight training off days and ½ day on weight training days. Caloric intake - 10-12 x bodyweight Macronutrient ratio - 50% protein 30% fat and 20% carbohydrate

High calorie/high carb portion

Duration - on weight training days only. From the beginning of the weight training session until bedtime. Caloric intake - The same amount as you would take in during a normal low calorie day but these calories are to be consumed in a time span of 6-8 hours. ( 10-12 x bw or 1600-1900 calories for a 160 lb individual) Macronutrient ratio - 20% protein 5% fat and 75% carbohydrate

Maintenance calorie/carb portion

Duration - weekends Caloric intake - 15 x bodyweight Macronutrient ratio - 50% protein 30% fat and 20% carbohydrate

Monday - AM cardio PM weight training* Tuesday - HIT cardio performed anytime Wednesday - AM cardio PM weight training* Thursday - HIT cardio performed anytime Friday - AM cardio PM weight training * Saturday - HIT Cardio done anytime maintenance calories Sunday - no training/maintenance calories * (AM cardio optional depending on individual)

So lets take a trial run through the program. At a bodyweight of 160 lbs our hypothetical trainee needs 1600-1920 calories on the low carb/low calorie day. At a 50p/30f/20c ratio this will mean 200 grams of protein/80 grams of carbs and 53 grams of fat. Lets first use and illustrate a weight training off day, Tuesday as an example.

Tuesday:

Preferably sometime in the late afternoon or early evening perform HIT cardio or sprinting. The timing for the HIT on weight training off days is not terribly important but keep in mind the evening is usually a time when the metabolism begins to slow. By performing intense exercise at this time we stimulate the metabolism so the metabolic rate over the course of 24 hours is greater. After this have a protein drink along with some liquid carbs which would be equivalent to about ½ of the total 80 gram allotment of carbs for the day. Since the body is most responsive to carbohydrate consumption following activity try to get more carbs in postworkout, regardless of when you perform it. Throughout the rest of the day the body would be in a hard-core fat burning state. Diet would consist of mostly lean meats, fibrous veggies, and quality fats about every 3 hours throughout the day.

Wednesday:

Again our hypothetical trainee gets up and this time does the optional slower/longer duration cardio for 40 minutes such as walking on a slightly inclined treadmill at a pace not so fast that it leaves him out of breath, but just fast enough so that it would be a little difficult to carry on a conversation. After this have a protein/carb drink. The amount of carbs would be less than the preceding days HIT cardio post-workout consumption, maybe 20 grams since the longer duration slower cardio is less taxing on the glycogen system.

Another important thing to remember is, since this is a weight training day and this training session is around 3 pm, he'll only be eating the low cal/low carb portion for approximately ½ day so the macronutrient total needs to be adjusted since those #'s are based on a full days total. Instead of 1600 calories 200 grams of protein/80 grams of carbs and 53 grams of fat we need to cut those in half and eat about 800 calories/ 100 grams of protein/40 grams of carbs and 26 grams of fat from breakfast until 3pm.

The mass building and muscle toning routine and preceding dieting phase not only burns fat but also puts the body into a glycogen depleted state which heightens insulin sensitivity so the body is ready to suck up on all the nutrients delivered during the short-term carbohydrate overfeed. In addition to increasing cellular hydration, which is important for protein synthesis, the body responds to this overfeeding by increasing levels of the anabolic hormone insulin.

Having high insulin levels ALL the time could be a bad thing and lead to fat gain, but for such a short period of time after an intense workout we're able to maximize the anabolic power of insulin for anabolism and muscle building with little danger of spillover into fat storage. Studies have shown that carbohydrates consumed during massive short-term carbohydrate overfeeding have a very small effect on de novo lipogenesis, or conversion to fat from carbohydate.

Also, during this time and after, the body will respond to this short-term overfeed with larger amounts of the hormones testosterone, thyroid, and leptin. Leptin is the hormone which normally drops during a diet and causes our fat loss efforts to reach a stand-still and causes our body to begin cannibalizing muscle tissue. By boosting leptin through over-feeding, we also ensure that our fat loss efforts continue unhindered throughout the plan while all the other hormones are optimized for muscle gain. Regular cardio is done earlier in the day not only to burn more calories and fat but, more importantly, to give a big metabolic stimulus throughout the day. Diet is optimized to allow fat burning during these times.

Likewise, the timing of the mass building and muscle toning routines coincides with the time when the body would normally begin to go from an anabolic to a catabolic state. By doing our weight training and HIT in the afternoon/early evening we are able to boost anabolic hormones and sensitivity to these hormones at a time when they naturally begin to decline while also stimulating the metabolism at a time when it begins to slow down. Following the weight-training workout with a high carbohydrate overfeed gives solid, round the clock hormonal and dietary management of both muscle gain and fat loss.

Although supplements are not absolutely necessary there definitely are certain supplements worth considering. It is also important that certain supplements be taken and/or avoided at certain times.

Protein: Whey hydrolysate after cardio/weight training and ideally whey/casein mix to be used during the rest of the time. Carb drink blend: Ideally a mix of dextrose and maltodextrin before and after weight training workouts.

BCAAs/Glutamine About BCAA's: Can be used prior, during, and after cardio and HIT, cardio, or weight training.

Fish oil/Flax oil/other good fats: Quite essential. Should be consumed for the majority of your daily fat consumption.

Alpha Lipoic Acid: Preferable r-ala. Can be used in large dosages during the carbohydrate overfeed phase.

Non-Ephedra based energizers, fat burners: Can be used anytime during the program. Tyrosine, DMAE, green tea extract, 7-keto, ginseng etc.

Creatine monohydrate: Used during overfeeding phase.

Caffeine: Use as needed.

The program as outlined works very well for those whose muscle building/fat burning metabolism is average and who are not at either extreme of their personal leanness or upper end of a bulking cycle. Someone who's just come off a hard-core bulking diet eating 6000 calories per day will have a hard time putting on any additional muscle mass following this program, however, it will allow better retention of muscle while dieting. Likewise, someone who's already dieted down to 5% body-fat likely won't lose any fat with this program but will be able to build some muscle while keeping body-fat stable. Success on the mass building and muscle toning routine will typically manifest itself with bodyweight staying constant and the physique taking on a harder, denser, leaner look.

This is a sign that the body is shedding fat while building muscle. Typically if bodyweight on the scale is dropping, this is a sign that the caloric deficit is too low and either energy system training (cardio and HIT) needs to be dropped or caloric intake during the low calorie/low carb portion needs to be increased. Some may find they can get away with little to no cardio and just following the diet, but most will need at least 3 sessions per week. If cardio and HIT sessions are to be scaled back it is best to eliminate those sessions done on the weight training days (regular cardio) rather than eliminating those done on the off days (HIT).

When it comes to adding muscle keep in mind, if one were to hold fat levels constant yet add muscle mass their relative bodyfat %'s would go down which is an ideal state. For those that find themselves putting on fat yet following the program to the letter, the high calorie re-feed may need to be examined and possibly toned down. People do tend to vary on their response to high calorie re-feeds. It is also important to note that after a high calorie reefed some water will be retained which will likely make measurements such as the waist increase in size. For this reason it is important to compare measurements after a reefed to those after the previous reefed and not after a day of eating low calories/low carbs as those numbers will be different.

Also realize that, no matter how successful the mass building and muscle toning routine is, there will come a point where the mutual task of building muscle/losing fat can no longer be accomplished on this program and a more specialized program will have to be undertaken. However, most people who maintain a 10-15% body-fat % can likely get to around 8% body-fat using this program while still being able to build muscle in the process and not using any hormonal type supplements.