The Body We Want

People want muscular definition.  Sometimes they refer to this as "being ripped".  I know a lot of guys will say "I want to look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club" and then state that they don't want to get "too muscular" or "too bulky" (you'll learn later on that getting too muscular isn't going to be possible for you anyway).

The look most men are going for is something along the lines of Brad Pitt in Fight Club or Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes.  It's muscular and well defined but not bulky like a body builder.

The look most women are going from is slim, healthy & tight.  Surprisingly - I'm at a loss as to who give as an example here.  Just about every name I can think of I hear the sound of my wife in my head saying "Wait..you THINK she's attractive???" so I'll just keep my mouth shut.

Often times the word I hear is "toned" but that's really a nonsenical word that doesn't mean anything.  The way to accurately describe this look is "lean".  The reason being is that most of us already have the muscular definition we want it's just covered under fat & misinformation.

What do Brad Pitt, Marisa Miller,  Bruce Li, Eva Mendes & Mark Wahlberg all have in common?  Their secret is that LOW BODYFAT PERCENTAGES.

That's right.  The truth is Brad didn't gain much weight for Fight Club - he burned fat.  And the reason most men fail at getting ripped abs or women fail at losing that stubbon belly & thigh fat is their giving up just when it's about to come off.   Here are some facts that are sadly lost on the majority of us looking to change our bodies:

• The human body sheds fat in a pattern.  It first sheds fat in the belly and butt which is where most of us want it gone. Then as we continue to lose weight we not only notice our waist lines thinning but also our faces, breasts & other areas.

• Sometimes the scale tells us we're losing weight but we don't notice it.  That's because we're losing fat off of our back and other areas we don't pay as much attention to.

• When you've lost enough weight to lower your body fat down to the low teens you can really begin the journey to ripped abs and a tight belly - sadly this is where most people give up!

So how do you get past this road block?   

Well - first let's get an understanding of what body fat percentages really are.  Basically - your body has lean body mass (muscle, organs, tissue, bone) and fat (the jiggly stuff you want to get rid of).  Body fat percentage is the percentage of fat your body has on you.  The less body fat the more ripped you are. 

The dirty little secret most people don't know is - you don't need much muscle to get that look you want.

It's this simple - gain a few pounds of muscle and burn a ton of fat.  If you're a man and you can get under 10% body fat you're gonna see your abs.  If you're a woman you should carry a bit more body fat on you - so keep it to about 11-13%.

This is the look that 99% of men & women are after.  And it's obtained by adding just a few pounds of muscle and burning lots of FAT.  Like I said earlier - people fail because of a lack of information.  Certainly not a lack of initiative on their part because they're all busy trying diet after diet.

So how do you start building msucle and burning fat?  Simple.  Resistance training (aka lifting weights).  You don't need a fancy gym and you don't need to spend hours at it.  As a matter of fact, when you're on a diet you might actually have to spend less time at the gym to make sure your body isn't over trained.  

A good lifting routine carried out faithfully 3x a week (no more than 15-20 minutes) with a protein rich diet is what it takes.  When you start the routine you'll also want to start using calipers to measure your body fat percentages.  You'll find that one some weeks you are not even losing pounds but still decreasing body fat percentages.

Once you get under 10% - you'll start seeing the muscular definition you want.

-Michael