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By Jill Coleman
Visible muscle definition is the holy grail of physique development.But for many regular exercisers, no matter how much they exercise, they simply cannot get the kind of defined "cuts" that they seek, nor shed that layer of subcutaneous water beneath their skin leaving arms, legs and torsos smooth and tube-like. So what gives?
Unfortunately those elusive cuts spring up only after a variety of factors are in place including optimal body composition, correct training and balanced, hypoallergenic nutrition for fat loss. What many people miss is that the toned appearance of muscle is more of a result of diet than exercise. Even for someone whose body fat percentage is normal or even low, the foods they put in their bodies may be preventing them from seeing any chisel at all.
First and foremost, visible definition will not occur without a low enough body fat percentage. For women, this will most likely be below 20% and for men, below 15%.Reducing overall body fat through consistent fat-loss exercise and correct nutrition will help get your physique in the ballpark where visible muscle separation and tone is possible, but from there, it's all about the details.
Exercise for more muscle, less fat
Decreasing body fat alone will not suffice, since taking someone with very little muscle to begin with and getting them leaner will simply make them look skinny and gaunt. Thus, the first goal is to maximize muscle building, while reducing body fat to make muscles "pop."
To begin, step off the cardio machines and into the weight room for a fat-blasting strength circuit.Circuit training 2-requires the exerciser choose 4 exercises and perform consecutive sets in a rotation, rather than performing the same exercise in straight sets. By moving from exercise to exercise with little rest time in circuit-fashion, the heart rate and breathing remain elevated, while eliciting spikes of metabolic failure (burn in the muscles) throughout. Choose challengingly heavy weights so that failure or near-failure is reached on every set.
Try the following metabolic effect strength circuit to build muscle, while decreasing body fat. Move from one exercise to the next in a circuit, resting as little as is needed.This type of workout will elicit a strong cardiovascular response but also signal the release of key fat burning hormones like growth hormone and testosterone.Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes, using the rest-based concept of "push until you can ' t, rest until you can."
In addition to weight training, perform short duration, high intensity cardio intervals (HIIT) to help keep the metabolism revved and so hang onto precious muscle. Interval training, which alternates working segments of high-intensity (such as sprinting swift) with resting segments of low intensity (like walking), is superior for fat burning over steady-state aerobic exercise and thus spares muscle by burning sugar mostly during exercise and fat post-exercise.To perform interval training, choose your favorite cardio machine. Rotate doing 1 minute at a very high intensity to get breathless and burning by the end, followed by 1 minute at a recovery pace to bring the heart rate and breathing back down. Alternate bouts these 1 minute to complete a total of 20 minutes.Keeping you will ensure the greatest exertion interval workout short.
Eating for fat and water loss
First, clean, hypoallergenic eating will ensure the greatest chance of revealing muscle definition. Hypoallergenic means choosing foods that are not likely to produce to allergic response in the body (e.g. many people who eat dairy-containing products elicit in inflammatory response that presents as gastrointestinal upset).
Common culprits of food-induced allergic reaction in the body include dairy products, gluten-containing foods like grains, as well as soy and peanuts.Though consuming them may not always lead to gastrointestinal upset, they in effect may cause a small (or large, depending on your specific sensitivity) allergic response in the body, one result of which is water retention.
Specifically, grains and dairy both induce the release of the hormone insulin, whose main job is to shuttle excessive blood sugar into the liver and muscle tissue for storage.Insulin also exerts a regulatory effect on sodium reuptake in the kidneys, causing at increase of sodium in the blood stream. A relative increase in sodium in the blood will trigger certain other hormones that cause an increase in water retention to balance the ratio of water-to-sodium in the blood.
And so the cycle continues of water and sodium retention feeding into one another, induced by insulin.Thus, one key way to shed water is to limit the amount of insulin-inducing foods we consume.
For example, the above mechanism is responsible for the initial water loss associated with the implementation of diets like the Paleodiet or the Atkins diet, both of which are lower in carbohydrates and thus require less insulin release.Followers of these diets usually report a large water loss within the first week, and as a result, more visible muscle definition.
Sodium consumption itself is excessive in the U.S., and drastically increases water retention.Be vigilant in your choice of foods, taking into account not only total sodium, but also the sodium/potassium ratio.These two electrolytes balance one another in a sense to choose foods that are higher in potassium and lower in sodium.Sodium is prominently in many processed foods, which is why eating real, whole foods is always superior in terms of preventing water retention.
Finally, watch out for sneaky culprits like sugar alcohols (like the ones commonly found in gums and sugar-free items) and artificial sweeteners like SPLENDA, both of which can impact subcutaneous water retention and bloating.This is common in people who try to curb appetite by chewing lots of sugar-free gum and cutting back on food intake; they will complain of abdominal bloating, discomfort and pain.
Drinking for fat and water loss
We love diet drinks in the US.With no calories, sugar-free energy drinks, diet sodas, zero-calorie lemonades and coffee sweetener packets are a dieter's dream.Unfortunately the artificial sweeteners, preservatives like potassium benzoate and various electrolyte varieties like phosphoric acid that they contain may disrupt our balanced blood solutes and cause water retention in their minute anti-inflammatory effects or electrolyte disruption, not to mention how they influence other physiological factors.Many people who quit these drinks report a huge initial water loss, much of which is coming from the space under the skin where many hold excess water.
Finally, if you want the body to release water, you have got to drink water.Though it sounds counter-intuitive, consuming at least 3 liters of water each day will help to shed water.Even though you might be running to the restroom more often, it is preferable since you are able to maintain at ideal blood-water volume in effect optimizing electrolyte balance as well.
Though it may seem as though increasing muscle definition is a simple matter of getting leaner, that is only one piece of the puzzle.Diet choices can drastically impact your "look" in the direction of puffy or in the direction of chiseled.Be vigilant in your food choices away from insulin-producing foods, sodium - download processed products and quit those diet drinks once and for all.
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. While we are physicians and trainers who have spent a great deal of time specializing in hormonal fat loss and female related fat loss, AND have worked with thousands of women of all sizes, shapes and ages it is always nice to get the female perspective on things. Since the release of our new book The New ME Diet many women who have read the book are excited to share their success stories and questions and want to learn more. The other day a female client of mine who is also a personal trainer asked me if I had to pick 3 of the best female fitness and fat loss experts in the industry who would I choose? I knew my answer immediately and thought I share it here.
JJ Virgin
2) Rachel Cosgrove
3) Jill Coleman