Subject: How to turn fat into muscle...
Let me just wave my magic wand here and...
Oops, looks you can't actually fat INTO muscle...but you CAN lose
fat and build muscle at the same time, which is just as good.
To help you accomplish this, I've got a great article here from
Ironman Magazine editor Steve Holman. It's an excerpt from his book
"Old School, New Body" and it details the base weight training
framework (F4X) that he uses in the program.
(Just fyi, this program is directed primarly at trainers over 30 who are
short on time and looking for the most bang for their training buck.)
The beauty of this system is (in many phases of the program) that you
can be done with ALL your training in 90 minutes a WEEK.
You can read more about his full system here...
And I've got the article for you below.
Nick
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The F4X System - Turning Fat Into Muscle
By Steve Holman
So let's not beat around the bush; just what is the F4X system? It's a method
of training based on one that has been lost and collecting dust. The reason
it's been "lost" is because of the emphasis on intensity, which most trainees
equate to heavy, joint-jolting workouts.
Go to any gym, and you'll see that most people are either using very light
weights and resting too long or pounding their bodies with heavy weights,
eventually getting injured.
Contrary to popular belief, heavy bone-crushing poundages
are not necessary for fast results.
In fact, they can be detrimental. Those current heavy-training trends can
overstress your body, jar your joints and actually damage your immune
system because of excess stress hormone release (cortisol) and free-radical
proliferation.
You do need to expend effort, but it should be cumulative. What does that mean?
Here's how it works.
Our F4X system calls for moderate poundages for less joint stress and relies on
high muscle fatigue for intensity—which means short rests between sets. That
results in growth hormone release. GH triggers a veritable muscle-building,
fat-burning (and anti-aging) cascade. That hormone decreases significantly
as you get older, but this type of training can provide a real resurgence.
F4X is simple to understand: Say you're doing curls. You pick a weight with
which you can get about 15 repetitions, but you only do 10. Simple. Rest 35
seconds, then do 10 more—and so on until you complete the designated
number of sets—usually four. You go all out on the last one, until you can't
get another in good form.
Sounds easy—and the first couple of sets are—but as you continue, fatigue builds
in the target muscles, in this case the biceps. On the last few sets you are
struggling, your muscles are aching from lactic acid, and you're breathing is
rapid (cardio effect). Blood rushes to your biceps for a full muscle pump—
enhanced circulation—after only the first few sets.
The number of exercises we prescribe for each muscle group varies, depending on
your experience and goals, but you'll get all the fat-to-muscle benefits in about 10
minutes per body part with total workouts lasting 30 to 45 minutes. That will get
muscle growth and GH output churning and ugly bodyfat burning—fast!
With F4X you get at the majority of muscle fibers over four sets as fatigue
accumulates. You also train both "sides" of those fibers for exceptional
muscle-building and fat-burning effects—with GH release at full-throttle.
The muscle fibers you want to target have two primary constituents, or “sides”:
myofibrils and sarcoplasm. The myofibrils are internal strands that grip onto
one another to shorten the fiber and produce muscular contraction—like ropes
gripping and pulling across one another.
The sarcoplasm is the fluid surrounding the myofibrils, and that "energy” juice
contains mostly mitochondria, where fat is burned (your internal lean machines),
glycogen (from the sugar in carb foods) and ATP (an energy source from
creatine). Here's the difference:
1) The myofibril strands respond, grow and multiply as a result of intense
heavier-weight sets.
2) The sarcoplasm increases with extended tension times on the muscle—keeping
the muscle working for almost a minute—and/or short rests between sets. Muscle
fatigue within a fast-twitch-fiber endurance threshold causes the energy constituents
in the sarcoplasm to eventually adapt and increase, so you get a fat-to-muscle effect.
In simple terms, you target the myofibrils to emphasize strength and the
sarcoplasm to emphasize muscle expansion, although both do contribute to
making a muscle bigger and stronger. Also, both contribute to burning bodyfat
so you get leaner. That means targeting both is important for fastest results.
As we mentioned above, the sarcoplasmic fluid contains the mitochondria where fat is
burned—obviously very important for getting and staying lean. With shorter rests between
sets, and each set lasting 40 seconds, you stress that "side" of the fiber and fortify those
intra-cellular fat-burning furnaces. You're revving those lean machines!
The 40 seconds of tension time and shorter rests between sets also produce more muscle
burn, which is a key to growth hormone release. We've already discussed the miraculous
fat-burning, anti-aging effects of GH; remember that muscle burn will get your GH to
churn. (Can J Appl Physio. 22:244-255; 1997)
Now as far as the myofibrils are concerned, a weight heavy enough to inflict a bit of
trauma on those power-generating strands is key. That trauma is microtears (soreness),
and repair of those small tears requires energy. Your body fixes the slight "damage"
over a period of days, and while it does that, your metabolism is stoked and you're
burning more calories, even at rest. That's right, as you recover from your workouts,
your body continues to burn fat 24/7. How great is that?
It's precisely why F4X training can work so extremely well to build you a new
muscular body and burn off fat in record time. It's like turning fat into muscle!
We've found four sets per exercise to be optimal for getting at both the myofibrils and
the sarcoplasm. What if you do more than four? The more sets you do, the lighter
the weight must be to allow the extra sets—and that's more of a sarcoplasmic
stimulator, with less effect on the myofibrils.
Remember, you want a balance of myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic stimulation. Our
F4X system gives you about a 50/50 mix of both myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic
stimulation, so you get the best fat-to-muscle results....
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