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By
Phil Stevens |
I don’t like Cutting Fat! Who
does? But it ain't as bad as people make it out to be.
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Restriction, dieting, eating
less then you need to sustain yourself, your training, your
strength and hard earned muscle. No, its not fun, but in reality
it isn’t that darn hard.
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Not as hard as many make it out to
be, and really unless your looking to get to extreme leanness its
pretty damn easy and anyone who has been in the game any amount
of time can tell you it’s a far cry easier then putting on
an above average amount of lean mass or strength.
It’s not an experience I would
call enjoyable by any enjoyable stretch of the imagination but I
will share a few tips that I have employed and you can to make your
next phase of cutting some pudge a lot easier and hopefully as well
a lot more productive and in turn shorter.
It's Just Food...
Mind set / a back bone. The number
one thing I hear, and I just HATE hearing from people when I am
cutting fat is “Gawd How Do you Do that? How do you stay so
committed?” How do you not have the cake at a birthday party?
How do you go from cramming anything and EVERYTHING you want plus
some in your pie hole one week getting ready for a meet to not even
a taste the next. Oh!!!! I cant do that the cravings are just too
bad, I can't handle them I have to have a little of this or little
of that. To calm my nerves and what not.
COME ON!!!!!!! How weak are
you. It’s friggin food, it not like you’re a crack addict.
Show some spine, some will power. Food is an inanimate object and
people have some how given it more power then it deserves. Social
power, and in some cases physical power. Are you really going to
sit there and tell me a HO HO has more spine then you? You had a
craving and Just couldn’t resist the UNRULY all-powerful snack
cake or cookie.
First thing you got to do is simply
want what your goal is commit to it and just accept it. You don’t
have to label the food BAD, or EVIL. “Bad Bad cookie”
Just label it what it is food, and if its not on your menu right
now for the goals at hand you just say?? Um NO and you don’t
have it. It's that easy, try it next time. Instead of dwelling on
a simple mass of calories and letting it waste minutes of your day
and cause undue stress from so called craving honestly ask yourself
if you're going to let a snack cake have more power over your actions
then you.
Protein your Protein and Stay Hydrated!
This is nothing ground breaking and
don’t claim it to be. I won't waste your time going into all
the specifics of why one should eat protein and stay hydrated if
one needs to know that there are literally thousands of documents
and articles written on the importance of each by myself and those
much smarter then I in the field of nutrition. Look a few up, or
ask some direct questions on the forum or the next Iron Radio Broadcast
(www.ironradio.org)
What I will do is give a suggestion I have used that couples the
two habits of getting your protein in and staying hydrated.
A 1 Gallon diluted protein shake.
Plain and simple every single day when I am cutting calories below
my maintenance I make a HUGE 1 gallon diluted protein shake and
sip on that all day long. I know the importance of getting a steady
small stream of protein to keep amino rich blood and halting undue
muscle catabolism, That and hydration need is increased even more
so due to the lower general carb intake it is of vital importance
to keeping as much lean mass as I can. Let alone the facts that
both habits keep you satiated and performance up, waste products
flowing out etc..
Just take a gallon container. I use
an empty milk jug and add 3-5 scoops of your favorite protein dependent
on your protein needs. The drink away al day to keep both these
staples of dietary habits in check. As an option I add a bit of
pure sucralose and stevia for sweetness and salt to keep one of
my crucial electrolytes in balance during the periods of HIGH hydration
and loss of sweat from adding activity.
Start Green
Going Green is the latest craze as
I’m sure you’ve heard and it should be when dieting as
well. But Im talking about a different green. Im not talking about
recycling your used tampons so they can be used to make a new space
aged coating for the space shuttle so it moves through the sky more
efficient and doesn’t burn so much precious fossil fuels I’m
talking Veggies.
Once again people give food, fuel
too much power and they label certain foods as breakfast foods and
certain ones NOT, and in general somehow veggies are in the
not category. I say a food like veggies that we know is a great
food for when trying to shed fat due to its high fiber and micro
nutrients content then it should not only be a breakfast choice
but a breakfast staple. We should start out one step ahead and have
a nice big serving at the first meal of the day. Yeah, it aint hash
browns, biscuits and gravy, or captain crunch but it is serving
a HUGE purpose in or current goals eat it.
How I don’t care eat it as a
side item like at dinner, or get creative and put it in a shake,
an omelet or other. It really doesn’t matter just start he
day with a BIG serving of the green stuff and see how it helps you
shed the lbs.
Get Moving
Cardio, NEPA, whet ever get your butt
moving do more then you were yesterday. Plain and simple start doing
more simple activity then you were prior to trying to lose fat and
it will add up. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t
have to be the next greatest cardio craze that promises to rip the
fat off you, just do something. Preferably something you enjoy,
find fun. If you can lose time, laugh and enjoy what your doing
al the better and al the more effective it will be.
I prefer to mix it up, Play a sport,
go for a simple walk, a hike, a bike ride, a swim, row, throw things,
drag things. Take part in anything that simply has your doing something.
It all counts, doesn’t have to be complicated and again it
doesn’t have to, and shouldn’t SUCK. If I have something
planned and dread doing it, or really hate the thought of it, FINE,
I’ll do something else. Its OK, just do something, whatever
you find the least Crappy.
Now if your just being a wuss and
making excuses, then sure sometimes you have to just suck it up
and do it and get it over with, It wont take long and wont be the
end of the world. Likely once your done it wont seem like that much
and you’ll be glad you did, but Just do a little more then
last week, it doesn’t have to be a ton, it all adds up.
Kiss a Fish...
Or smell like you did. Taking fish
oils will be the last little tip I recommend. Again, by now this
shouldn’t even be something I have to suggest, and I definitely
wont go into great detail as that’s be done again and again.
When cutting fat even more so then in your daily routine I suggest
you really load up on the fish oils, for a good size male I say
10-15 grams a day. I personally take 12-15 that’s aside from
any fish I eat.
The benefits are vast from general
health on the cellular level, to really aiding aches pains and lubricating
joints while your on a hypo caloric diet. They also have the effect
of aiding in fat burning, cognitive function possibly helping when
you would be a bit cloudy from the lowered energy intake and raised
expenditure. Thinning the blood a bit getting nutrients flowing
in and out of bodily tissues more readily and aiding in cholesterol.
Get a BIG tub and start them TODAY
make it a habit and if you have a fat loss phase planned you might
think about starting to load up a bit higher a few weeks prior to
get a bit ahead of the game.
Training Choices
I am going to keep this very brief
and simple. Im my experience you have 1000’s of choices in
how to train when you want to shed body fat. Literally any program
can be used for both training to lose fat or pack on mass the biggest
difference is the diet and your NEPA / Cardio. That said in my opinion
you have two choices that are best and will lead to the greatest
fat loss to lean mass preservation.
#1 GO heavy, brief and frequent. Get
in pick one maybe two BIG compound moves do it hard and work up
to the 90% zone or higher and get OUT
#2 Go Heavy, Go Long, But very infrequent
Get in the gym Hit it HARD again big
compounds lifts work up to heavy sets in the 85%+ range. Hit he
whole body and hit it hard. Then rest. Two simple bare bones but
hard sessions a week is Plenty with this route.
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These two are by
far the best. Why? #1 you need to go heavy. Nothing is going
to convince your body that it is a MUST to keep the precious
lean mass that you have built like lifting near maximal loads.
You don’t have the energy intake for lots of long hard
sets and tons of reps, let alone the fuel to recover form
such sessions. Blitz the body give it a reason to hold onto
mass but do minimal muscle tissue damage and get out. Use
the diet and moderate cardio and NEPA to target the fat loss.
Conclusions
These tips are
easily applied real world basic bones tools anyone can use
when they are looking to shed some body fat and they want
to sway the success a bit more in their direction. Most people
don't need to worry getting caught up in the minutia that
they do over complicating things and breaking things down
to exact calories and exact macros. If they employ simple
good nutritional habits and add on a few tips and tools like
these they can make great success and likely make it further
and faster toward their goal then if they had went a more
invasive route.
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About The Author
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Coach Phil Stevens is an accomplished
strength athlete with considerable experience in both powerlifting
and strongman competition. Phil is the 2007 APA World Champion
in the 242-pound class (total). He currently holds the APF
275-pound class raw National bench, squat, deadlift, and total
records. Phil’s marquis lift was his 700-pound raw deadlift,
performed on February 14, 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Phil has been ranked in the “Top 10” in the deadlift Nationally across all powerlifting federations, also serves as the Arizona State Chair for the North American Highlander Association, as well as the founder of Lift For Hope, an annual strength-competition
with proceeds donated to Charity (www.Lift4Hope.org).
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