Then, you matured and life changed.

Today, you tackle high-level work projects. You have family functions to attend. The days of training six days a week for two hours each session are long gone. Now, you’re lucky if you lift two days a week for an hour.

Years ago, you were young with little responsibility. You wanted to pack on muscle, shed fat, and gain superhuman strength. You trained six days a week for two hours at a time. You felt invincible.

Then, you matured and life changed.

Today, you tackle high-level work projects. You have family functions to attend. The days of training six days a week for two hours each session are long gone. Now, you’re lucky if you lift two days a week for an hour.

The pounds have crept on. You feel lazy and tired. The thought of being in the gym for two hours is as painful as watching grass grow. You need an iron-clad training plan that gets you in and out of the gym in four hours or less each week so you can dominate every day.

If only there was someone who could concoct the magic potion that enabled busy lifters to maintain strength and protect muscle, while they shed stubborn fat.

Well, behold! I present to you the 4-Hour Fat Loss Elixir for Busy Lifters.

Put a Strangle Hold on Your Muscle

The first instinct for some lifters is to trade lifting sessions for hours of slow, boring, steady-state cardio. I understand because I’ve been there.

Four years ago, I lost 14 pounds in a year. Ten came from fat and the remaining four were stolen from muscle. You may think four pounds isn’t much, but on an athletic 5’9” and 170lb frame, it’s massive.

Imagine lining up four lean, mouthwatering 16oz steak filets. Now, picture those filets as thick slabs of muscle on your back, chest, shoulders, or arms.

It’s the difference between you having a “skinny fat” body versus a muscular body.

It’s the difference between you having enough muscle to fill out a medium versus a large sized t-shirt.

Learn from my blunders. If you want to reveal a lean and muscular body, don’t skimp on weights.

A caloric deficit is required for you to lose body fat. You must burn more calories than you consume. When you’re in a caloric deficit, maintaining strength and muscle are key. When you consume less calories, your body wants to snatch energy from any available source. Sometimes, it wants to feast on muscle.

Don’t let this happen. Your body needs a reason to protect your hard-earned muscle. Lifting weights is the solution. In a fat loss phase, if you consistently practice the three mechanisms for muscle growth, you’ll keep a muscular physique as you shed fat. What are they?

Mechanism 1: Mechanical Tension

This is the process of progressive overload or an increase in strength over time. You need to generate as much force as possible through a full range of motion.

Rarely does this require someone to perform their one-rep max on a lift. You should perform reps in the range of 3-5. Contract the correct muscles and lift the weight with maximal force every repetition.

Mechanism 2: Muscular Damage

Do you need to torture your muscles into oblivion? No!

You can accomplish muscle damage in various ways. Create muscle damage with the use of a slower tempo on the eccentric (unloaded) portion of an exercise, an angle change to target a different part of a muscle, an increase in weight, or stretching a muscle under tension.

Mechanism 3: Metabolic Stress

Here, you chase the pump. It’s that time at the end of a set when your muscles become exhausted and you feel a deep burn.

Plus, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. Lifters with a higher ratio of muscle to fat have increased resting energy expenditures.³ Therefore, even when you don’t have a ton of time, you’ll burn more calories while doing nothing because you made lifting a priority.

The best approach for you is to lift to protect your muscle. Use your diet to shed fat. If you need a reminder, repeat this message to your yourself or go old-school and write it 100 times on a chalkboard like a kid sent to detention:

“I will lift weights to build and protect my muscle. I will use my diet to shed fat.”

Protect Your Muscle With Heavy Days

The first two ingredients in your elixir are separate lower and upper body heavy training days. The goal is to maintain or (in some cases) build strength.

Below is your concoction for heavy days:

• CNS activation
• Primary strength movement
• Antagonist strength movement
• Primary support exercise for the strength exercise
• Secondary support exercise for the antagonist strength movement

Each session begins with an explosive movement to activate your central nervous system (CNS). CNS activation prepares your nervous system for the imposed neurological demands in the proceeding strength-based exercise. Jumps, throws, and slams are perfect examples.

Next, advance to your primary strength movement of the day. The movement makes your body more responsive to building and protecting muscle by improving your neural efficiency. Why is this important for you?

Neuromuscular adaptions to heavier loading allow contractions to be forceful and efficient. This means that we can use more of the full potential of our existing muscle mass.¹ This results in higher testosterone levels, a greater capacity to build muscle in the future, and a better-looking body

Each session ends with a support exercise for your strength movements. It gives you the opportunity to train the muscles responsible for maximizing each movement pattern. Since your CNS has been activated, take advantage of what’s called post tetanic potentiation (PAP).

When your muscles produce a maximal effort, it increases the capacity of the nervous system to recruit muscle fibers during subsequent efforts. If you begin with a heavy lift, the remainder of the workout will be more effective because you can recruit more muscle fibers.⁴ For the support exercises, use heavy/moderate weight.

Protect Your Muscle With Light Days

The next two ingredients in your fat loss elixir are two separate lower and upper body light training days. The goals for these days are to provide your CNS a break and force lactate production to release growth hormone for fat loss.

Remember, you’re busy and stressed with work and family matters. When you train with heavier weights, it places an immense amount of stress on your body and CNS. Give each ample recovery time from the intense neurological demands of heavy lifts.

The solution is the inclusion of two lighter weight days. Lighter weights don’t require use of your CNS. For these sessions, teach your muscles to flex and keep them under constant tension. You’ll fix underdeveloped muscles and build a better mind-muscle connection.

Your ability to maintain constant tension for at least 40 seconds forces lactate production which leads to the release of growth hormone. Growth hormone regulates whole body metabolism, and physical exercise is the most potent stimulus to induce its secretion in humans.²

Since we need to maintain tension longer on these days, the reps are 12 or more with shorter rest periods between exercises. You’ll remain focused, elevate your heart rate, and burn more calories because you’re training more muscles in less time.

Plus, you must hit muscle failure on some exercises. Muscle failure is the signal for creating muscle growth and protein synthesis. Sure, your goal isn’t to pack on muscle. However, stimulating the process of protein synthesis during a fat loss phase increases your body’s ability to maintain muscle. Failure will be achieved by extending sets with the use of two methods: drop sets and rest/pause.

1. For drop sets, you train close to failure. Then, drop the weight anywhere from 15 to 25% and perform as many reps as possible until failure.
2. On rest/pause sets, you also train close to failure. Then, you rest for 10-15 seconds. Once time has passed, you knock out more reps until failure.

Below is your concoction for lights days:

• Reps of 12+
• Failure
• Unilateral exercises
• Antagonist supersets

When life gets crazy and trips to the gym are inconsistent, your muscles become fragile. Do you feel like one arm or leg is weaker than the other? Maybe you have a tough time flexing your muscles on one side of your body.

When one side is weaker than the other, it makes you feel like you’re not getting enough from your workouts. Regain your muscle with unilateral movements and feel invincible again. Unilateral refers to a movement where each side is training independently.

Unilateral training helps you fix muscle imbalances, improve your explosiveness and athleticism, and add variety to your workouts. Each light day begins with a unilateral superset.

You’ll perform antagonist supersets so you can crush multiple muscles at once without a decrease in strength. This method consists of pairing two exercises of opposing muscle groups in a superset (two exercises performed consecutively). There is a brief rest between the exercises and moderate rest after a set of both have been completed.

Your Training Plan

Day 1 – Heavy Lower Body Day

1. Vertical Jumps – 3 x 5, rest 60 sec
2. Front Squats – 5 x 3-5, rest 2-3 min
3. Barbell RDL – 4 x 6-8, rest 90-120 sec
4. Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat – 3 x 8-10 per leg (slow eccentric), rest 75-90 sec
5. Lying or Seated Hamstring Curl – 3 x 8-10 (rest/pause on the last two sets), rest 75-90 sec

Day 2 – Rest

Day 3 – Heavy Upper Body Day

1. Incline Plyo Push Up – 3 x 5, rest 60 sec
2. Incline Barbell Bench Press – 5 x 3-5, rest 2-3 min
3. Pendlay Row – 4 x 6-8, rest 90-120 sec
4. Dips – 3 x 8-10 (slow eccentric), rest 75-90 sec
5. Supinated Pull Ups or Supinated Lat Pulldown – 3 x 8-10 (rest/pause on the last two sets), rest 75-90 sec

Day 4 – Light Lower Body Day

1. DB Reverse Lunge – 3 x 12 (per leg), rest 45 sec
2. Weighted Single Leg Hip Thrust – 3 x 12 (per leg), rest 60-75 sec
3. Leg Press – 3 x 12-15 (rest/pause on the last two sets), rest 60 sec
4. Leg Extensions – 3 x 12-15 (drop set on last two sets), rest 30 sec
5. Cable Pull Through – 3 x 12-15, rest 60 sec
6. Hanging Leg Raises – 3 x 12-15, no rest*
7. Kettlebell Swings – 3 x 20-25, rest 60 sec*

*Finisher for the session

Day 5 – Rest

Day 6 – Light Upper Body Day

1. One Arm DB Z Press – 3 x 12 (per side), rest 30 sec
2. Split Stance Single Arm Row – 3 x 12 (per side), rest 60-75 sec
3. Incline DB Flyes – 3 x 12-15 (drop set on the last two sets), rest 30 sec
4. Incline DB Reverse Flyes – 3 x 12-15 (drop set on the last two sets), rest 60 sec
5. Lean Away Cable Curls – 3 x 12-15 (3 second peak contraction), rest 30 sec
6. Tricep Pushdowns – 3 x 12-15 (drop set on the last two sets), rest 60 sec
7. Shrug Row – 3 x 15 + 10 sec hold on last rep, rest 30 sec
8. Incline Lateral Raises – 3 x 15 + max partials, rest 60 sec

Day 7 – Rest

Your Best Approach to Muscle

Life is short. Don’t spend an eternity in the gym. Each workout should take you no more than an hour. Take four to six weeks and use this plan so you can feel invincible again. You deserve the chance to dominate work, rest, and play every day, in every way.

References:

1. Helms, Eric, Andy Morgan, and Andrea Valdez. The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Training. United States: Muscle and Strength Pyramids, LLC., 2019.

2. Ignacio, Daniele Leão, Diego H. Da S. Silvestre, João Paulo Albuquerque Cavalcanti-De-Albuquerque, Ruy Andrade Louzada, Denise P. Carvalho, and João Pedro Werneck-De-Castro. “Thyroid Hormone and Estrogen Regulate Exercise-Induced Growth Hormone Release.” Plos One 10, no. 4 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122556.

3. Rolfe, D. F., and G. C. Brown. “Cellular Energy Utilization and Molecular Origin of Standard Metabolic Rate in Mammals.” Physiological Reviews 77, no. 3 (January 1997): 731–58.

4. Thibaudeau, Christian, and Paul Carter. Maximum Muscle Bible. Saint-Raymond, Que´bec: F. Lepine Pub., 2016.

The post The 4-Hour Fat Loss Elixir For Busy Lifters appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Tiny narrow shoulders make you look weak and timid—like Bambi.

Massive broad shoulders make you look powerful and confident—like Superman.

If you’re reading this, you and I know two things:

Your shoulders say everything about you—from the mid-level office employee sitting in his cubicle 9 to 5 with rounded shoulders to the powerful high-level executive standing erect as he leads meetings—your shoulders define how others perceive you.

Tiny narrow shoulders make you look weak and timid—like Bambi.

Massive broad shoulders make you look powerful and confident—like Superman.

If you’re reading this, you and I know two things:

1. You’re tired of the way your body looks after you slowly roll out of bed and look at yourself in the mirror each morning before a long day at work.
2. You’re confused about how to train hard and deal with the aches and pains that have developed around your creaky nagging shoulders.

Whether you’re wearing an expensive suit or a tight t-shirt, you want massive eye-popping shoulders that tell people you command respect. Imagine dominating every meeting and social occasion because you made the decision to add strength and size to your shoulders.

Does that sound good? Yes?

Great. Let’s begin by unpacking five ways for you to turbo-charge your training for healthy, jaw-dropping shoulders.

Tip 1: Fix Your Pull Versus Push Ratio

I know you’re excited about gaining massive shoulders that make you feel like a superhero. Hell, I’m excited for you. You’re probably planning to head to the gym today, grabbing the first barbell you lay eyes on, and pumping out 10 sets of overhead presses. Stop. That’s not what you should do.

If you want to have massive eye-popping shoulders, fixing your pull versus push ratio is the key that unlocks the door to you looking like a confident stud.

Here’s why:

Your body has twice as many internal rotators of the shoulder versus external rotators. When the internal rotators like your pecs and the front of your shoulder are continually flexed by obsessive overhead pressing, they naturally become stronger.

It may sound great, but this sad state of affairs will eventually lead to rounded shoulders also known as kyphotic posture. It’s the type of posture is what you see in people who look meek and lack confidence.

Is that how you want other people to perceive you? I hope not.

How do we fix this? In the words of 90s R and B sensation Montell Jordan, “This is how we do it…”

Your shoulder has three different heads: the anterior (front), medial (side), and posterior (rear) deltoids (delts). Exercises like the shoulder press and front raises hit your anterior deltoids hard. You don’t need a ton a variation and volume to make them look phenomenal. For well rounded, muscle packed shoulders, you need to focus more on hitting the medial and posterior delts often.

Your rear delts are vital for shoulder health and appearance. They’re a major contributor in both bringing your shoulders back to give you that powerful confident look as well as fixing nagging shoulder pain. You must build them up.

With the 3 Way Band Pull Apart Sequence you’ll concentrate on stimulating the muscle fibers in your rear delts by hitting them at three different angles: high, middle, and low.

For every set, perform 8 reps of each variation with zero rest in between.

When you’re isolating one muscle, focus on muscle failure and even going past it.

After you’ve completed a set of lateral raises, don’t stop there. Continue by adding in partial reps to help stimulate muscle growth. Go after the extra pump! For partial reps, raise the dumbbells halfway. Your medial delts should feel like they’re on fire at the end of each set.

Perform 3 x 12-15 plus 8 partial reps.

Next, you’ll use the same method you did with the lateral raises.

Key in on your range of motion. Your goal is to target the rear delts, nothing else. As you pull the weight up, stop the motion as you reach your torso. If you go past that, other muscles will get involved and you won’t receive the full benefit of the exercise. Also, use a supinated (underhand) grip with the dumbbells to increase the external rotation of the shoulders.

Again, perform 3 x 12-15 plus 8 partial reps to help stimulate muscle growth and get your extra pump.

Tip 2: Change Your Grip

Do you experience achy, nagging shoulder pain when performing barbell overhead presses?

Imagine being able to build powerful shoulders without aggravating them in the process.

Does that sound good? Yeah? Pay close attention to the next part.

The barbell overhead press is a great exercise. It makes you feel like you’re Godzilla holding a building over your head about to throw it 10 miles away, but it’s not essential for massive powerful shoulders.

Switching from the barbell to dumbbells to build massive shoulders allows you to lower and lift the weight in a natural path for your shoulder joint.

Save yourself years of agonizing shoulder pain by using a neutral grip. Instead of the barbell overhead press, implement the Standing Neutral Grip Dumbbell Overhead Press.

For strength gains, control the weight on the eccentric (lowering phase) of the movement. Once the dumbbells are back down by your ears, be explosive and press them up.

For powerful strength gains, perform 5 x 5.

Several lifters just like you with achy shoulders primarily use dumbbells for overhead pressing exercises. The lack of pain will lead to better consistency and results.

Tip 3: Control Your Tempo and Dominate Each Shoulder

If you want to pack on the maximum amount of muscle possible, put more emphasis on the eccentric and keep your shoulder under constant tension during each set. You have greater potential for muscle growth when you concentrate on the eccentric portion. Here, you’re going to isolate each shoulder and place them under immense stress for a large amount of time.

Use the 2-1-1 Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press.

Press the weight up overhead with both arms. Then, lower the dumbbells one side at a time under control as you squeeze your shoulders as hard as humanly possible against the resistance.

I’m sure you want your shoulders to be equally strong, right? Of course, you do.

Here’s a tip: Lower the stronger side first, then lower the weaker side. The weaker shoulder needs more time under tension so it can play catch up to the former. This alone can provide the shoulder development you’ve been looking for this whole time.

Perform 4 x 8-10 and it will leave your shoulders trembling.

Tip 4: Add a Half Rep Before Each Full Rep

Do you want to get some extra blood pumping through your shoulders? Who doesn’t!

Use the 1.5 Dumbbell Z Press.

The 1.5 rep technique forces you to perform a double contraction of the targeted muscle. Instead of hitting your shoulders once, you get to crush them twice in the same movement.

Press the weight all the way up for your full rep, go slow, and lower the weight halfway. Next, pause for a second, then press the dumbbells up again for your half rep. Finally, complete the movement by lowering the weight all the way down. That’s your 1.5 rep.

If you want to get the maximum benefit of the exercise, make sure your half rep takes the same amount of time as your full rep when lowering the weight.

If your shoulders can handle it, perform 4 x 6-8.

Tip 5: Dominate Every Muscle Fiber

If you like to train hard and fast, this part is for you.

Training density is the amount of work done in a certain period. You can do more work in a set period or more work in less time. Increasing training density does a few things:

1. Increases caloric expenditure leading to more fat loss.
2. Trains your cardiovascular system without you having to step on a treadmill.
3. Keeps you focused, allowing you to waste zero time in the gym.

I know it sounds awesome, but how do you use this information? I’ve got the answer right here.

Use a triple set to target each head of the shoulders. Normally, you would perform three exercises on their own. Including rest periods, this may take you 20 minutes to complete during a workout. During a triple set, you complete three consecutive exercises with no rest between each. So, what usually takes you 20 minutes quickly turns into 10 minutes.

Destroy your delts by performing the following for three sets:

• Seated Neutral Grip Dumbbell Shoulder Press – 8-10 reps, no rest.
• Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise – max reps, no rest.
• Seated Rear Delt Raise – max reps, rest 2 minutes.

The Takeaway

There’s no need to overcomplicate things—packing on muscle for powerful and healthy shoulders can be simple. Just follow the tips above.

If you train every inch of your shoulders, place them under different types of stress, and vary the exercises, you’ll be able to dominate your time in the gym and feel like Superman until you decide to retire your cape. (Which shouldn’t be anytime soon!)

The post 5 Foolproof Ways to Build Muscular Shoulders appeared first on Breaking Muscle.