Are you training hard both with free weights and on the treadmill but not seeing any results?
A lot of guys feel they are following a solid cut program yet can’t seem to make any progress.
There are some common areas that hold people back like poor diet, not enough sleep or subpar workouts – but these are obvious.
There are a lot of mistakes being made that aren’t so obvious yet still manage to compromise your progress.
Today we’ve put together a list of the five main reasons people screw up their fat loss diets.
If you can make sure you address each one of these you will be well on your way to a shredded physique.
Not Doing HIIT
A lot of old-school bodybuilders think that the best way to burn fat is to do lots of low-intensity cardio.
The idea was that this would maximize fat loss while minimizing muscle breakdown.
However, recent research is indicating that HIIT, in fact, is the best form of cardio for burning fat while preserving muscle.
HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training involves cycling between high intensity exercise and low-intensity recovery.
Research shows that this type of training burns twice as much body fat as steady-state cardio. Not to mention the workouts are much shorter which leaves you with more free time.
HIIT leads to far more calories being burned despite much shorter training sessions. This is largely due to the fact that HIIT boosts your metabolism levels around the clock which means you burn more calories while you are at home surfing brocience.co.
As far as maintaining muscle mass – research shows that HIIT leads to no muscle loss. The easiest way to visualize this is to look at the physique of a sprinter compared to a marathon runner.
In terms of the actual exercise, HIIT can be done a number of ways. Sprinting is one of the most popular, however it can also be effective with biking.
Even kettlebell training would work – doing kettlebell swings for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest.
Lifting Light Weights
A huge misconception about losing fat is that you need to go for higher reps and lighter weight if you want to get lean.
This is totally false and based on the assumption that the extra reps will lead to more calories being burned.
The thing is, it’s not about how many calories you burn while IN the gym but rather AFTER you leave the gym.
Just like HIIT cardio, lifting heavy weights leads to higher metabolism after working out compared to lower weights for higher reps.
As a result you burn more calories around the clock.
Don’t hesitate to lift heavy – in the 6-10 rep range.
It will boost your metabolism and help you retain muscle mass while on a calorie deficit.
Cutting Calories Too Aggressively
Look, we know you want to get shredded ASAP, but you guys need to stop cutting calories so aggressively right away.
It might work for the first couple of weeks but your body will quickly adjust to the lower calorie intake and you will find that you are no longer making much progress.
This all comes down to evolution.
Food used to be scarce for our ancestors – they were worried where their next meal would come from.
As a result their bodies would store fat so that they could use it as fuel when times got tough.
Even though we now live in an age where food is plentiful our bodies still haven’t adjusted.
If your body realises it is getting less food and expects it to stay that way for awhile it will adjust calorie expenditure downwards so that it can hold on to that precious fat.
So no matter how aggressively your calories your body will adjust.
This is why it’s important to burn body fat while still eating a lot of food. Once you hit a plateau you cut calories a bit more and continue.
Adjust your macronutrients so you are getting 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.
Add in 0.5 grams of fat per pound of bodyweight. The rest of your calories should come from carbs.
Each time you hit a plateau you can reduce your carbs by about 0.25 grams per pound of body weight.
Too Much Rest
Do you spend your time between sets swiping on tinder and chatting to your friends at the gym?
If you want to get shredded you should waste less time in the gym and cut those rest periods down.
Research shows that having shorter rest times between sets leads to more calories being burned.
A great way to benefit from your rest times is to start incorporating supersets and dropsets into your routine.
They can cut down on the amount of time it takes to get through your workout at the gym and they boost your metabolism throughout the day.
You Spent Too Much Time on Your Ass
It’s not just about what you do in the gym but also what you do outside of it.
Studies show that people who spend a lot of time watching TV, playing computer games, etc. tend to have higher bodyfat than those who don’t – even if they go to the gym regularly.
When you spend too much time sitting you make it more difficult for your body to burn fat.
To make matters worse, new studies are coming out seemingly daily about how bad sitting is for your overall health.
A simple way to avoid this is to be active throughout the day.
Try to get up from your desk and move around every 30 minutes. Similarly, if you are at home playing video games, get up and stretch or walk around a bit after each round.
When shopping park far from the store entrance so you have to walk a bit further.
Source: http://broscience.co/the-5-main-reasons-you-arent-shredded/
