A Quick Guide to Achieving Your Dream Physique

"We pick a weight we can lift for 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets. Staying in this rep range is the best for muscle growth."

We all come across one person online who looks remarkably fit. So fit in fact that it makes you wonder if it's

even real. Is it Photoshop? Is it AI? Although that may be the case some of the time, some of these people really do look as amazing in real life as they do online. This, in turn, raises the question: "Well, how did they do it?". These influencers will say a variety of things, often providing information about how they achieved their ideal body. The problem with this is that there is so much conflicting information on how to lose weight, diet, and train that people often get overwhelmed. So, how do we navigate this sea of information? We need to know what works and why it works when it comes to weight loss and health. In this blog, I will go over the basics: body recomposition, fat loss, and muscle gain.

If you're a beginner in the gym, you may have already heard the term "body recomposition". For those of you who aren't familiar, body recomposition is when fat loss and muscle gain occur simultaneously. This tends to be easier for people who are just starting out in the gym because they are more responsive to exercise and can grow muscle a little faster (newbie gains). To achieve body recomp, we must do two things: Be in a calorie deficit and train consistently. A calorie deficit is when one is burning more calories than they consume. For example, if we know we burn 2,000 calories a day, but we are only consuming 1,500 calories, this will result in fat loss. Some influencers will argue against "calories in, calories out."That argument falls apart easily, seeing as calorie deficits are scientifically proven in many peer-reviewed studies and are part of the laws of thermodynamics. Body recomp is attainable for beginners specifically, but can also be achieved by experienced lifters.

Part of looking and feeling better is training consistently. There are varying opinions online about workout splits and what is "optimal". The truth is that many different ways work. Simply getting in the gym and lifting weights 3 days a week is effective to start. When we talk about muscle gain, any sort of weight lifting will work as long as we implement progressive overload. Progressive overload, in simple terms, means that over time we increase the weight we are lifting. This ensures that are muscles are always being challenged, which leads to muscles tearing, and therefore growing. If you have a more focused goal of muscle growth, hypertrophy training is best. Hypertrophy is what will cause your muscles to grow the most. How do we do this? We pick a weight we can lift for 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets. Staying in this rep range is the best for muscle growth.

Fat loss is not an easy task. It involves a lot of discipline within dieting and training. Now, let's talk about diet.. The secret to eating to optimize muscle growth and fat loss is eating mostly whole foods. Stay away from things with high fat content( especially the saturated sort). Lean proteins like chicken, fish, tofu, lentils, and other legumes are good options. Speaking of protein, how much should we be consuming?. A good rule of thumb is that your protein should be 1g of protein per pound of body weight. For example, a 180-pound person would eat 180 grams of protein per day. (Side note: carbs are NOT bad for you, they fuel your body and your brain!). The fat loss formula you want to stick to when it comes to diet is this: up your protein intake and combine it with a caloric deficit. When it comes to fat loss and training its always good to include cardio. Specifically, steady state (or zone two) cardio. Zone two cardio is categorized by exercising at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. This form of cardio works best because it uses stored fat as fuel vs. more intense forms of cardio, which mainly use carbohydrates as fuel.

Putting all of these components together will help you get that physique you've always dreamed of. When we put all the pieces together, we have a plan that consists of a healthy diet that's high in protein, progressive overload over time, and a consistent gym schedule with cardio. When it comes to weight loss, it doesn't need to be complicated. All of these components contribute to an overall health improvement, as well as what we all want: to look better.

Phoebe, NASM-CPT

Every Body Strength & Fitness