How to Build a Lean Muscular Body
Building a lean, muscular body is something that takes a reasonable amount of work and a lot of commitment.You also have to work smart and approach becoming fit from the right perspective.
You must do three things for a new body: change your diet, do cardio exercises and lift weights. Of these three, the first is the most important. No matter how strong you are, the best way to get rid of the layer of fat in front of your muscles is to change the food that feeds that fat.
Instructions
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Diet
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1
Avoid carbohydrates. In general, people eat too many carbs. The carbs you do eat should come from whole-grain bread, rice and pasta, and fruit and vegetables. Don't eat overly processed carbohydrates, such as white bread, that leave you hungry and quickly turn into fat.
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2
Increase your protein intake. Protein is what your muscles use to build themselves and it's the nutritional element least likely to be converted into fat. So increasing your protein consumption gives muscles much-needed fuel.
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3
Change your fat consumption. Fat is not evil. Indeed, your body needs fat to survive. However, some fats are better than others-the trans fats in greasy fast food and doughnuts has much less nutritional value than polyunsaturated fat from olive oil.
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4
Party less. Beer, wine and liquor are a huge source of empty calories. If you reduce your consumption of alcoholic beverages, you will shed fat quicker.
Cardio
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5
Perform 20-45 minutes of cardio every second day. This can include running, swimming, biking, rowing and anything else that gets your heart pumping.
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Perform your cardio for a longer period of time at a lower intensity to decrease stress on your heart. This is good for beginners, but is not as effective as high-intensity interval training.
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Perform high-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT, once you've gotten a handle on lower intensity workouts. This is a much shorter workout of 20-30 minutes where you exercise at lower intensity for a minute to 90 seconds, then at extreme intensity for three minutes and repeat. This is a very efficient form of cardio.
Weights
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8
Consult a trainer for a weightlifting program that works all your muscles. It is key that everything is exercised-if your stomach is exercised your back also needs to be exercised to prevent injury. The same goes for your biceps and triceps, and upper body and lower body.
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Lift your weights for eight-12 repetitions every second day. This is the repetition range that will stimulate muscle growth, which is what you want for lean muscle mass.
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Ignore the adages about lifting low weights for high reps. This is basically just cardio, which you're already doing with your HIIT.
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Tips & Warnings
Do not worry about getting too large. Since you're not eating that much, you won't become a bodybuilder overnight.
Be careful not to injure yourself. Consult a doctor if you have any health concerns.
References
- Photo Credit Weight Lifter 2 image by Infs from Fotolia.com
