Cut and improve your muscle definition!
The definition of dryness and muscle is logically obtained after mass gain
Obviously bodybuilding consists first and foremost of gaining mass and strength, before thinking about getting a nice muscular definition. This principle may seem obvious, but many beginners often tend to "skip" when it's best to put on a few pounds of muscle, without worrying about how much body fat they might gain.
In other words, mass gain will necessarily depend on increasing calories in order to stimulate muscle gain. On the other hand, the dehydration phase and body fat loss will not occur until after this period of mass gain. Necessarily, gaining mass also involves gaining a certain amount of body fat. This increase in fat mass will depend on each individual and the high-calorie diet they will follow before considering cutting.
The cutting and weight loss period requires accurate knowledge of your metabolism
As you can imagine, the cutting phase cannot be done randomly if you really want to lose as much fat as possible without losing muscle. You know, the whole problem here.
If you lose too quickly, you will lose a lot of muscle. Since muscle is your engine for burning calories, you will lose as much of your ability to oxidize fatty acids as you will lose a lot of muscle mass that you have trained so hard for months. It's kind of a double risk in a way...
To avoid this as much as possible and get the best possible results, some basic principles must be understood. Basically, you need to know two key numbers associated with your metabolism: DEJ or daily energy expenditure and the total amount of calories you eat each day.
To calculate DEJ, you will find many sites on the Internet that will give you all the formulas to calculate it at best.
The calculation is easy to establish with a small calculator. It is based on your basal metabolism (BMR), your daily calorie expenditure, and your physical activity level (PAL), which are generally classified into three categories: sedentary, active or athletic (or very active).
Take time to succeed by optimizing your food intake
From the moment you know your DEJ and your daily calorie intake, you've already done half the serving (or almost). The principle of losing weight is always the same, it involves a gradual reduction in calorie intake. When you have DEJ numbers, you can more accurately calculate your daily calorie reduction; This is the first stage of the cut.
Then, as you are looking to preserve muscle mass while losing body fat, you will also need to maintain an optimal balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. In this regard, the main mistake of bodybuilding competitors is to reduce calorie intake at the same time as protein.
So the loss of muscle mass is inevitable. Remember that carbohydrates give you energy and maintain muscle integrity, while proteins are more specifically involved in maintaining muscle mass. You might think that reducing carbs drastically and increasing protein proportionally will give you the best possible lean.
However, you can do without carbohydrates only with great difficulty. It will always be difficult for you to get energy in training if you cut carbs drastically. The key to a successful cut will always be the gradual process. In other words, don't do it two weeks before the competition.
As for fatty acids, do not forget that they are necessary for the formation of androgen hormones and cell membranes. Radically reducing fat is also a mistake that will have detrimental consequences for the success of the reduction.
Customize your workouts and recover from dehydration for better muscle definition
Getting a cut is one thing, but getting great muscle definition is another. To do this, keep in mind that you are reducing your energy and macro and micronutrient intake, but you should try to maintain a certain training intensity. Productive strength training and cardio are likely to be more difficult, especially if you start to run out of energy. In this case, you will only have to adapt the rest periods according to your training, trying to maintain the intensity of the exercises to maintain muscle density.
By maintaining this intensity, you will get better definition of the trained muscles. Of course, thermogenic fat burners with caffeine also help you burn more calories from fat.
Several formulas are presented on the site. Obviously, during the downtime, eating protein shakes will benefit you the most. This is definitely the easiest way to ensure your amino acid intake in order to maintain lean muscle more effectively.
