Weight loss is very important for boxers if they want to successfully make weight for an upcoming bout.

Although this is typically more important for boxers outside of the superheavyweight (amateur) and heavyweight (professional) divisions, Anthony Joshua’s recent success against Andy Ruiz was largely attributed to his ability to constantly move around the ring, which was almost certainly benefitted by the fact he had lost a considerable amount of body weight since their first fight six months prior.

For any boxer who needs to lose weight, there are two simple rules they need to follow:

Rule #1: You must be in a calorie deficit.

This is when you consume fewer calories than you burn each day. The most simple way to check if you’re in a deficit is to log food intake with food tracker (such as My Fitness Pal) so you can how much you’re consuming compared to how much you need to be eating according to body size, gender, age, and activity levels.

Rule #2 You must sustain a calorie deficit for an extended period of time.

Being unable to stick to a calorie deficit is where most people struggle.

A typical approach that a lot of boxers use is to simply reduce their food consumption down to the bare minimum. Although this is an effective way to be in a calorie deficit, it leaves energy levels extremely low and they will be unable to train and recover properly.

It’s crucial that the weight loss plan is sustainable and easy to stick to. With that having been said, here are my five principles of boxing weight loss nutrition.

Principle 1: Make the Plan Enjoyable

A very simple way to do this is to allow 10-15% of your calories to come from anything you want.

Remember, as long as you’re in a calorie deficit, you can actually eat anything you want and still lose weight. Another trick is to make your food tasty by using herbs, spices, seasonings etc.

Principle 2: Get the Protein In

You must be sure to eat 1.8-2g of protein per kg of body weight.

Along with helping you to recover properly from intense training, protein is exceptionally good for managing your hunger levels.

Protein is found in meat, poultry, fish, and dairy. Protein supplements are a good idea if you’re not eating a sufficient quantity of protein from other foods.

Principle 3: Focus on Vegetables and Fruit

To make this principle work, you will need to eat at least five different fruits and vegetables a day.

Fruits and vegetables contain very high levels of many nutrients, so the more nutrient-rich your diet is, the better energy you’ll have—and the better your hunger and appetite will be controlled.

Principle 4: Sleep, Sleep, Sleep

Your body needs to rest and recover, so it is very important that you get 7+ hours of quality sleep each night.

A clear link has been established between sleep deprivation and elevated levels of hunger, and if your goal is weight loss, this is counterproductive to your goals. Also, getting enough sleep will ensure that you maintain good energy levels.

Principle 5: Use Re-Feed Days

A re-feed day is when you have an additional 500kcal a day. Ideally, these calories will come from carbs (500kcal = 125g of carbs). You can have up to two re-feed days a week.

Re-feed days can help to ensure that your hunger and energy levels are kept in check.

Put these five principles in place and I guarantee you’ll have a much easier time sticking to your nutrition plan and making weight without all the drama of starvation and low energy.

The post 5 Weight Loss Principles That Say It All appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

People join gyms to get results. They probably want to:

No one joins the gym to make zero progress. It’s unlikely that anyone signed up with the intention of busting their gut every single week but having very little to show for it.

People join gyms to get results. They probably want to:

1. Improve athletic performance for their chosen sport, which may result in more competitive victories.
2. Incinerate body fat so they no longer feel embarrassed about their physique.
3. Build strength and muscle so they comfortably fill out their clothes and look confident, strong, and like someone who’s not to be messed with.

It’s an amazing feeling to be making progress on a consistent basis and feel like you’re going to hit your goals sooner rather than later.

But if you’ve made a start on your journey and have hit a frustrating plateau that’s preventing you from making any further progress, it can be depressing to feel like you’re never going to get to where you want to be.

Remember, there is no need to be extreme.

Unless you’re an elite-level athlete, stalled progress is often a lot easier to overcome than most people realize. But unfortunately, many people are drawn to making the most extreme changes possible. ??

Tough times can often feel like it’s time to implement tough measures, like making very extreme changes to your training or nutrition, but the fact is that, the more extreme the approach, the less sustainable it is.

Yes, it will almost certainly get the ball rolling, but not for very long. It is a matter of time before you give up and return to old ways. This will serve to undo your quickly-gained results and put you back to square one.

Instead, I want to present to you three things that you should address immediately in the event of stalled progress, none of which would be considered extreme or unsustainable.

Training Progress Tip 1: Deload Your Training

You make progress in training as a result of stimulating adaptions within the body. These adaptations can only be stimulated if you stress the body more than you’ve done previously (i.e. train harder—the principle of overload).

You can only train harder if you’ve recovered properly from your previous training session.

If you are running yourself into the ground in each and every training session, and not making progress, then the solution is simply to back off a little and have a de-load week.

If you’re unable to make progress in training, but continue to beast yourself as hard as possible, then you won’t have stressed the body enough to stimulate any new adaptations, but will have increased fatigued further.

Without sufficient recovery between sessions, you’re not allowing new adaptations to take place and will struggle to make any further progress from training.

It may feel counterintuitive to take things easier in the gym, instead of training as hard as possible, but in this instance, it’s exactly what you need.

• Takeaway: For every three weeks of hard training, have 1 week with a 40% reduction in training volume.

Training Progress Tip 2: Perform a Full Nutrition Audit

It’s very common to think you’re eating optimally in order to reach your goal, but in reality, you may be miles away. Perform a full nutrition audit by logging everything you eat and drink for a week and comparing your actual calorie and macronutrient (carbs, protein, and fat) to what you actually need to reach your goal.

For example, if you want to build muscle, you will need to make sure you’re eating in a calorie surplus and a minimum of 1.5g of protein per kg of body weight.

Failing to achieve this will prevent you from building muscle, no matter how hard you train. Likewise, if you want to incinerate body fat, then you must be in a calorie deficit while eating a sufficient quantity of nutrients to ensure that you feel energized.

• Takeaway: Use a food tracker that works out calories and macronutrient quantities for one week in order to determine how much you’re actually eating every day.

Training Progress Tip 3: Prioritize Sleep

Training is a stress that can elicit a lot of damage to the body.

Although rest and nutrients are an important part of the recovery process, making sure you get enough quality sleep should never be overlooked. One possible reason sleep can help with recovery is because of the growth hormones released during deep sleep that support recovery and repair.

If you fail to get enough quality sleep, then you may limit the amount of growth hormone released. This may result in impaired recovery.

Improving sleep quality can go a long way to improving recovery from hard training. Ensure that you’re able to consistently push hard in the gym and stimulate results.

• Takeaway: Aim to get 7-8 hours of quality sleep every night.

Take An Honest Look At Your Training and Nutrition

If you’re failing to make the progress you want in the gym, then the first thing to do is address these three key areas of training, nutrition, and recovery.

For most people, after evaluating these three elements, they are able to identify where improvements can be made in order to meet their goals and feel confident in the process.

The post 3 Tips to Getting Through Plateaus in the Gym appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

What are ascending reps?

Ascending reps are simply sets of increasing reps, with the same weight, until a total number of reps are completed. You can also work back down again (pyramids) or repeat the sets (waves), but more on this later.

For example, instead of performing 5 sets of 5 reps, you could do:

Assuming that building strength and muscle ranks highly among your training priorities, then you may be interested to learn about ascending reps (also known as ladders).

What are ascending reps?

Ascending reps are simply sets of increasing reps, with the same weight, until a total number of reps are completed. You can also work back down again (pyramids) or repeat the sets (waves), but more on this later.

For example, instead of performing 5 sets of 5 reps, you could do:

• Set 1 – 1 rep
• Set 2 – 2 reps
• Set 3 – 3 reps
• Set 4 – 4 reps
• Set 5 – 5 reps
• Set 6 – 5 reps
• Set 7 – 5 reps

Or even:

• Set 1 – 1 rep
• Set 2 – 2 reps
• Set 3 – 3 reps
• Set 4 – 4 reps
• Set 5 – 5 reps
• Set 6 – 6 reps
• Set 7 – 4 reps

You’ll notice immediately that ascending reps calls for a higher number of total sets to be performed, however, due to the fact that the first 2-3 sets are very sub-maximal, you’ll be able to get away with a considerably shorter rest period, and as such, the total time taken to perform 7 ascending rep sets should be around the same time it takes to perform 5 straight rep sets.

If you’re concerned that all the low rep sets will have minimal effect on building muscle, then fear not.

When it comes to building strength and muscle, total volume at a certain percentage of your 1 rep max (1RM), is what counts—reps and sets are merely a way of organizing training load.

Although there are rules that need to be adhered to (more on this in the programming section), using ascending reps allows you to hit the total volume required to build muscle and strength while only using high-quality reps.

Why Use Ascending Reps?

Have you ever felt like your first set with the working weight is way more challenging and exhausting than it needs to be?

I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that when a set feels like this, it’s likely that rep quality has suffered, and when rep quality suffers, so can results—but using ascending reps totally eliminates this problem.

On paper, this protocol may not look that appealing—it surely looks like you’ll be getting more and more fatigued as the sets go on, and therefore rep quality would suffer.

Actually, it’s the total opposite. As the sets go on, the weight will actually feel lighter and the reps will become much easier.

This can be explained by the phenomenon of post-activation potentiation where a muscle is able to produce more force as a result of a previous contraction. Following a muscular contraction, a muscle is both fatigued and potentiated and as long as the fatigue dissipated first, the muscle will be left in a potentiated state, and capable of producing more force.

Since the first few sets of ascending reps are lower rep, fatigue is going to be very low, which means the potentiation effect is almost immediate.

Ascending Reps Produce Increased Motivation

Another benefit of ascending reps is the increase motivation.

When you move heavy weights with greater ease, the brain will consider this a tremendous success, and as a result, will reward you with a hit of dopamine. Instead of feeling more and more fatigued, you’ll actually be more aroused (not that kind) and more stimulated.

Furthermore, the change in stimulus from set to set will keep you alert, so if you’re someone who gets bored easily during the main exercises, ascending reps are a fantastic way to stay focused and switched on.

How to Program Ascending Reps

As previously mentioned, ascending reps can be used for both size and strength, and here’s what you need to know about programming ascending reps.

Ascending reps work best with large compound barbell exercises, such as squat variations, deadlift variations, presses, and bench press.

I’ve also found it works very well with weighted chin-ups and pull-ups (assuming that you can do 10+ strict reps with your body weight)

Ascending rep sets can be set up in three different ways:

1. Ladders – Start with low reps and add reps until all reps are complete.
2. Waves – Start with low reps and work up to a higher-rep set, then repeat.
3. Pyramids – Start with low reps and work up to higher-rep sets, then finish off with a few lower rep sets.

Setting your strength parameters when using an ascending rep format will help you reach your goals, whether it be the desire to gain size or strength.

When training for strength, there should be an upper limit of around 6 reps per set. If you’re able to perform more than this, then it’s an indication that your working weight may be too light.

On the flip side, you’ll know if you’re using a weight that’s too heavy if you’re unable to obey the “Rule Of 3 Singles.” (See below.)

Ladder (15 reps): 1/2/3/4/5

• Set 1: 1 rep
• Set 2: 2 reps
• Set 3: 3 reps
• Set 4: 4 reps
• Set 5: 5 reps

Wave (12 reps): 1/2/3/1/2/3

• Set 1: 1 rep
• Set 2: 2 reps
• Set 3: 3 reps
• Set 4: 1 rep
• Set 5: 2 reps
• Set 6: 3 reps

If the first set of 3 feels easy, then you can put the weight up for the second wave.

Pyramid (25 reps): 1/4/4/5/5/4/3

• Set 1: 1 rep
• Set 2: 4 reps
• Set 3: 4 reps
• Set 4: 5 reps
• Set 5: 5 reps
• Set 6: 4 reps
• Set 7: 3 reps

When training for size, you can use any number of reps per set, but bear in mind that if you are going to start with lower rep sets (i.e. 1 or 2), then you will need to perform more overall sets.

Additional Rep Scheme Examples

Ladder (30 reps): 3/4/6/8/9

• Set 1: 3 reps
• Set 2: 4 reps
• Set 3: 6 reps
• Set 4: 8 reps
• Set 5: 9 reps

Wave (40 reps): 3/3/6/8/3/3/6/8

• Set 1: 3 reps
• Set 2: 3 reps
• Set 3: 6 reps
• Set 4: 8 reps
• Set 5: 3 reps
• Set 6: 3 reps
• Set 7: 6 reps
• Set 8: 8 reps

Pyramid (50 reps): 3/5/7/10/10/7/5/3

• Set 1: 3 reps
• Set 2: 5 reps
• Set 3: 7 reps
• Set 4: 10 reps
• Set 5: 10 reps
• Set 6: 7 reps
• Set 7: 5 reps
• Set 8: 3 reps

Feel free to switch the number of reps around for each set.

You can also switch the method up each week, for example:

• Week 1 – Pyramid
• Week 2 – Ladder
• Week 3 – Wave

Ascending Reps Progression

During each session, you’re aiming to either use more weight or perform more total reps, as per the table below:

Unless you’ve used a weight that was too light in your initial session, refrain from increasing both weight and sets from session to session, as that’s a very easy way to burnout.

The Rule Of 3 Singles

You may find that you have sessions when you can’t increase the reps from set 2 and the first set wasn’t enough to wake you up and the body needs longer to prepare.

While this is absolutely fine, take note of the following:

If you need more than 3 singles before you’re ready to start increasing the reps, then this likely means one of two things:

1. You’re using too much weight.
2. You’re still fatigued from your previous session.

If this happens, then either lower the working weight, or drop the exercise completely, and focus on recovering properly.

The post How to Use Ascending Reps to Build Size and Strength appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

However, whereas ‘being weaker’ in the squat or the bench press could just mean having an inefficient lift and a reduced range of motion, in the case of the deadlift, this inefficiency usually results in the lower back being subjected to huge stress and puts it at risk of a catastrophic injury.

When a lifter makes a technical mistake in any barbell lift, it can instantly make them weaker.

However, whereas ‘being weaker’ in the squat or the bench press could just mean having an inefficient lift and a reduced range of motion, in the case of the deadlift, this inefficiency usually results in the lower back being subjected to huge stress and puts it at risk of a catastrophic injury.

In fact, of all the exercises (outside of the Olympic lifts), the deadlift is one that all lifters should take the time in order to dial in their technique—particularly if they’ve hurt their lower back before.

In this article, I give six cues I regularly use with clients to fix some of the most basic mistakes and instantly make their deadlift stronger and safer.

Cue #1: Shoulders Over Bar

One of the keys to a strong deadlift is a strong set-up. This can be achieved by perfectly balancing the body with the bar.

A very common mistake is for people to confuse deadlift and squat movements. Sometimes this means they have too much bodyweight behind the bar. This increases the distance between the bar and lifter’s center of mass and creates unwelcome leverages that make the weight harder to lift.

This pitfall is very easily fixed by ensuring that the lifter keeps their shoulders over the bar. This cue helps to encourage them to bring more of their body weight forward and over the bar, thus keeping them in optimal alignment.

Cue #2: Knees Against Elbows

Ok, so this cue may not directly preserve lower back integrity, but it’s a simple and often overlooked cue that can instantly boost strength by allowing you to get more from the hips, thus preserving the lower back.

By “pushing your knees against your elbows,” you place a slight stretch on the hip abductor muscles, which are then called into action during the lift as they assist in hip extension. The more muscle you can involve in the lift, the more strength you’ll have.

Cue #3: Take the Slack Out of the Bar

Once you’re set up in the right position, you now need to create maximal tension in the upper body so that the spine is stabilized and the lower body can do all the work.

In order to create maximal tension, you need to be contracting against some resistance. This is easily achieved by closing off the small gap that exists between the top of the bar and the plates simply by pulling it up.

I like to cue this as “taking the slack out of the bar,” but another fantastic cue I’ve heard is to get “metal on metal.”

Cue #4: Squeeze an Orange In Your Armpits

As soon as you’ve “taken the slack out of the bar,”, it’s time to create as much tension in the upper body as possible.

A very easy way to tense the lats is to imagine you’re squeezing an orange in your armpits as if you were trying to get all the juice out. Doing this will help create massive stiffness in the lats and should lock your upper body to the bar.

Now that your upper body is secured, it’s time to start the movement…

Cue #5: Drive Your Feet Into the Ground

A very common mistake in the deadlift is for lifters to try and lift the bar by using their back. This encourages lumbar hyperextension and isn’t what you want. Instead, the lower back should remain completely still—all movement should be performed by the lower body only.

Using the cue “drive your feet into the ground” will help encourage the lifter to use their lower body and take the emphasis away from extending their spine.

Cue #6: Stand Tall

At the end of the movement, some lifters like to finish the lift by leaning back. However, this isn’t conducive to the deadlift in any way at all and simply places a ton of unnecessary stress through the lumbar spine.

Instead, the lift should finish with both the hips and knees fully extended and no unnecessary extension in the lower back. This can be achieved with the cue “stand tall.”

By thinking about making yourself as tall and as upright as possible, it helps to encourage full extension the knees and hips, while removing the desire to lean back (which would instantly make you shorter).

The post 6 Cues to Make Your Deadlift Stronger appeared first on Breaking Muscle.