Burning the fat, feeding the muscle.

Sometimes teenagers have a hard time burning fat, and gaining muscle at the same time. People will go door to door to try to sell you "THE MAGIC PILL". There's no magic pill at all, a magic pill doesn't exist.

My team and I came across this program that will motivate you and get you back on track. Apparently 14 celebrities saw it online and bought it as well.

You can get it HERE

Digesting a certain amount of protein per meal

"I can only digest 20g of protein per meal". For some reason, this comes out of a lot of people's mouths. Now I'm not saying some of you are wrong, I'm just quoting a doctor.

"I have no idea how this myth got started, but there's simply no data that i know of to support the idea that a normal-sized person can only digest 20g of protein at a time. If that were true, bodybuilders who eat 400g of protein a day would have to eat 20 meals a day! In reality, this is a silly misconception because protein is used for much more than building muscle. protein has thermogenic effects(that is, it helps promote weight loss if calories are reduced), helps blunt appetite and has beneficial effects on glucose control and blood lipids. My hunch is that most people who promote this myth really want to know how much protein they need to eat to mazimize the muscle-growth response. Unfortunately, scientists really don't know the definitive answer to this question. For whey protein, it's somewhere around 40g per meal. For egg protein, it may be a bit lower (20g). But the few studies that have been done used only untrained men who performed a relatively low volume of resistance exercise. For now, the two most important things to remember if you are trying to gain muscle are: 1) never train fasted; and 2) get some high quality protein in the tank immediately after training (20-40g)"

- Doctor Ziegenfuss

Jay Cutler trains chest august 9 2010

Jay Cutler won the Mr. Olympia last year, and he claims to win it this year as well. "If you think my legs were huge last year, wait until you see this year" The Mr. O said. Due to minor injuries, he couldn't squat until he was 5 weeks out of the 2009 Mr. Olympia. Squats as helped his developpement very much and he will be back with tremendous amounts of muscle added!

Glutamine and Citruline for Peak Metabolic Fitness

Glutamine and citrulline are amino acids that are critical to metabolic fitness. Citrulline is partially made during reactions involving glutamine. Glutamine plays an important role in the function of the immune system. Many athletes take glutamine to recent upper respiratory infections and flu. It is the most abundant amino acid in the body but can be depleted during trauma, serious illness, or intense training.


Citrulline is an important amino acid involved in the formation of urea. It is a popular component in athletic food supplements because it participates in key amino acid reactions and influences blood flow by increasing nitric oxide levels. Nitric oxide is an important chemical secreted by the endothelium- the inner lining of the blood vessels.

Glutamine promotes wound healing and speeds recovery from serious illnesses, injury, trauma, and burns. Several studies found a relationship between depressed immune function and low levels of glutamine. A Baylor University study found that glutamine was not a significant amino acid for producing citrulline. Good dietart sources of glutamine include beef, chicken, fish, eggs, milk, dairy products, wheat, cabbage, beets, beans, spinach, and parsley, while watermelon rind is an excellent source of citrulline.

Beta-Alanine increases High-Intensity Exercise Performance

Alanine is an amino acid that provides energy during exercise and prevents neuromuscular fatigue by increasing tissue carnosine levels. Carnosine, which is made from alanine, is an important antioxidant that protects cells from destruction and buffers acids that cause fatigue. A research review by Brazilian researchers concluded that beta-alanine was an effective supplement for preventing fatigue during high-intensity exercise. The optimal dosage of beta-alanine appears to be 6.4 grams per day, divided into four doses of 1.6 grams. This dose will increase blood carnosine levels by about 30 percent. Beta-Alanine supplements may improve perfomance by increasing muscle strength and size, and by preventing acid buildup during intense exercise.

Incorporating Failure Training into your workouts

Training to failure occasionally can trigger gains in muscle hypertrophy and strength. Using this method too frequently, however, can depress anabolic hormones and lead to overtraining, suppression of the immune system, and overuse injuries. Athletes interested in failure training should periodize their workouts by combining periods of exhaustive and sub maximal workouts to promote adaptive changes and allow recovery. While failure training has a machjo appeal., it prolongs recovery time and interferes with other activities, such as learning sports skills. Failure training can also severely injure muscle cells, creating a condition called rhabdomyolysis. Myoglobin from muscle cells leaks into the bloodstream and can cause kidney failure. While sometimes useful, training to failure excessively is inefficient, inefective, and protentially dangerous.

The Value of Advanced Swiss Ball Exercises

Swiss ball exercises are widely used to build core muscle strength and promote spinal stability. Several recent studies found that whole-body exercises such as squats, cleans, and snatches overload core muscles better than isolation exercises performed on Swiss Balls. An Australian study of advanced Swiss ball exercises led by Paul Marshall found that Swiss ball rolls and bridges caused significant activation of the abdominal and spinal muscles. While these exercises caused enough muscle activation to trigger a training response, people in the study had trouble maintaining a neutral spine, which could make advance Swiss ball exercises dangerous. The goal during most sports movements, particularly those involving rotation, should be to maintain a stiff, neutral spine and generate power from the legs and hips. Good technique is critical for maximizing force and reducing the risk of injury to the spine.

Supersets increase workout efficiency

Supersets usually pair two exercises, typically with opposing muscle groups, in rapid succession with no rest within each superset. An Australian study led by Daniel Robbins found that supersets increased workout efficiency without influencing the total volume of the workout. Trained males performed a workout consisting of 3 sets of 4 reps of bench pulls and bench presses using either traditional training (i.e., 3 sets of bench pulls followed by 3 sets of bench presses; three minutes rest between sets) or superset training (i.e., 1 set of bench pulls followed by 1 set of bench presses; three minutes rest between supersets; repeated supersets until workout completed). Researchers found no difference in muscle activation between the two training methods, but subjects could complete the superset workout more quickly. They noted that in oth workouts, three minutes rest between sets was inadequate for full recovery.

Warm up, Concentration, and Heavy sets.

How you train can affect the blood volume in your target muscles. Certain training strategies and protocols are designed to help you take better advantage of your pump. Include these training suggestions in your workouts for better training result.

WARM-UP SET: Warm-up sets not only warm up your target muscles, they pumped blood into your muscles to warm you up for your next set.

CONCENTRATION SET: This is the set where you focus on good form and make sure you’re very warmed up. You should be very focused by now, and feeling the pump.

HEAVY SET: On this set, you should go heavy and you shouldn’t be focusing so much on your form. This is your last set, and you’re going much heavier than the previous ones.

A giant super set

A Giant set is the practice of performing several (three to six) consecutive sets of different exercises for the same muscle group. A super set is the practice of performing several (two or three) consecutive sets but targeting different muscle groups that work synergistically together. With both giant and super sets, you perform one exercise after the next with little to no rest between sets.

Giant sets can be used for building Giants sets can but are more ideal for shaping and getting ripped. You can use all isolation movements, all compound movements, or a mix of both giant sets, depending on your end goal. Giants sets can provide an incredible muscle burn and pump. Plus, they will speed up your workout while helping you burn more calories. Here are examples.

Giant Set for Mass Building: Perform 4-10 reps of the bench press, dumbbell incline press and cable flye. Start with a heavy compound movement that stimulates the nervous system and exhaust the slow-twitch fibers. The isolation exercise that follows it will then activate more of both the fast- and -slow- twitch fibers than if done separately, thus exhausting the entire muscle to its fullest. Perform 3-4 giant sets.

Giant Set for Cutting: Perform 10-20 reps of the machine pec press, machine dip, upper cable flye, lower cable flye and lying dumbbell pullover. The higher reps will tone and condition the muscles by burning out all of the glycogen, which will help make the muscles harder and more defined with better separation. Do 3-4 giant sets.

Cardiovascular good for general health

Teenagers may want to build muscle fast. To do that, they need calories. For some, calories do not come in quick and easy. Some have to eat their ass off to get those CLEAN calories in. Now what does cardio do for you? It burns calories, yes. Burning calories isn't really good for muscle building but it is good for other stuff. You might think that cardio is bad for you, but it really isn't. If you can do 30 minutes of cardio for day, it can be jogging, walking, or anything else, it will help your cadiovascular health.



Now don't get me wrong, when you are lifting weight, you are doing some sort of cardio, which is already helpful. But if you have time, why not add some 30 minute cardio 3-4 days a week. It could be walking to your gym, or even walking back from school.

Stay in school and stay healthy!

Free weights vs Machines.

We all know everybody uses the smith machine once in a while to boost their ego. They might also use different machines to isolate a muscle. Well that’s the positive side of it, a machine will isolate one of your muscle compared to free weights.



Free weights are a lot harder. If you haven’t already noticed. 50lbs on a machine is lighter than 50lbs in free weights. Why is that though? Because when you are using free weights, you need to control the weight. It’s not like a machine where the machine controls the weights for you and you just have to push it. If you didn’t know, yes it is totally different! No, you probably didn’t get stronger over night!
Now what is the point of controlling the weight? How is that a good thing? Well it is a good thing. When you control your weight, you learn to use proper form on your lifts. I would stick to free weights first, and then go to machine to isolate the muscles a bit more. I’m not saying machines aren’t good, they are. Those hammer strength machines make money for a reason, everyone loves them! I do think free weights are better though, because compound lifts are done with free weights.

Milk: Positive or Negative?

Now as some of you might know milk is a very good source of protein. It is good to bulk, and it tastes amazing, but nevermind that. Here are the nutritional facts for 2% milk: for 250ml: 130 cals, 5g of fat, 12g carbs, 9g protein.

Now that is a good carb to protein ratio. That’s good for bulking if you drink a lot of it. The positive side: A solid amount of protein.

Now you must be wondering, what’s the negative side? Well there is one. Let’s get to that now. We went over the nutritional facts. There’s 5g of fat, whatever that’s not too bad. It’s good for a solid bulk. How about the 12g of carbs? That’s not much, but out of those 12g, 11g is pure sugar. Yes it might be natural sugar but it is still sugar. If you’re drinking 1L of milk a day, that’s 44g of pure sugar in your system just from milk. That’s not so good. Some teens on teensbodybuilding don’t really mind the sugar because it’s a good source of energy. You might take advantage of it or not drink it at all. But that’s your choice. I hope the best to all of you!

How to stay motivated for teens

Motivation is KEY to bodybuilding. Without motivation, you won’t feel the need to complete your objectives. How does one stay motivated? It’s simple. There are many ways to stay motivated using your computer.

One way is to watch youtube videos of bodybuilders training, or inspiring videos of them. Arnold always said that to stay motivated “you have to watch these videos over and over again until it’s plugged into your head”. Here on TeensBodybuilding we have many videos that will motivate you, and more will be posted every day.

You can also read magazines to stay motivated. Iron man, natural bodybuilding, DxlMagazine, and a lot more have articles and pictures to motivate you. These can be very useful. In your head, you have to see success, and even if you fail, failure is the next step to success so there’s nothing to worry about. Many teens have failed to complete their objective, but does that stop them from anything? Not at all.

So watch your videos, read your magazines, eat well, lift heavy and you will complete your goal easily.

Inside the life of a natural pro - Layne Norton

Layne Norton, known as one of the best natural pros out there, just unleashed his DVD. Here is a part of his video. This is pure motivation. Layne deadlifted 645, which broke an APA record. Just watch and you'll be motivated, especially if you're a natural bodybuilder.

Your 3 compound exercises

When it comes to weight lifting in general, there's always 3 exercises that you cannot stay away from. These 3 compound exercises are, in my opinion, the most useful hands down.

The 3 exercises are: The deadlift, the squat, and the bench press.

Let's start talking about deadlifting. Deadlifting might not seem useful to some because it mainly works your lower back. Alright fine, for some teens it's not THAT important. That's not all though, deadlifting works other parts of your body when done with proper form. To deadlift, you need to use your legs, because you have to squat down to bring the weight up. It's not by using your arms that you will carry the weight. It should be "DEAD" weight in your hands.

When I started deadlifting, I felt stronger the day after, and as weeks went by, I was already 1.5 times stronger than before I started deadlifting.

Squatting makes a huge difference. Mainly because it works your thighs, hips, and buttocks muscles. It also straighens the ligaments in your entire lower body. Squatting was also proven to raise testosterone levels. You can use different forms of squatting such as the back squat, the safe bar squat, the sissy squat, the hack squat, etc.

Now onto bench pressing. Why does everybody like bench pressing? Yes it does work your chest. It's the best exercises to work your pectoral muscles, but it also works other muscles. Such as your shoulders, even if you are pressing on a flat bench press, you still need to use your shoulders to push the weight up. Bench Pressing also helps you increase your strength in general.

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5 Must-Do's to Gain Mass

1. Weight lift

This one is pretty obvious, if you want to gain mass, you have to lift weights, heavy or light, it's got to happen! The best way to gain mass while weight lifting is lifting heavy. That means HEAVY for YOU, it must be challenging for you. Meaning you want to lift so you can get at least 6 reps, depending on the exercise. To focus on muscle growth, you want to use less body weight exercises, and more free weight exercises. IE: Dumbbells, barbells, etc.

2. Eat the right amount of calories

Your body feeds off the nutrients you eat. If you aren't eating enough, your body just won't grow! A 200lb teenager, has to eat about 3000 calories a day to grow, if he doesn't eat them, he won't grow. The 3000 calories he is eating means he is at maintenance. Maintenance meaning if he eats less, he will be losing weight. A caloric deficit means you are losing weight, whether its fat or muscle. The more clean calories you eat, the more you will grow. Don't be scared of getting too fat.

3. Make sure you always have your needed proteins

When bodybuilding, you want to make sure you have your proteins in place before anything else. if you don't want to eat clean, fine, that's your choice. Just make sure you have atleast 200g of protein in your system by the end of the day. Try to spread your protein equally in every meal. Protein is a necessity when it comes to bodybuilding, without protein, you're going nowhere.

4. Rest is key

Resting might seem like nothing to most teenagers, but it means a lot. When resting, your body is relaxed and does not need to run like it does when you're awake. When you are resting, you're giving your whole core a rest, including YOUR MUSCLES. As a teenage bodybuilder, you want as much rest as possible to maximize muscle growth. Resting will help each and every one of you.

5. Dedication and Consistency

You can't just hit the gym once a month, or even once a week. Teenagers might think eating the gym every once in a while is going to get them big. It won't get them anywhere, being dedicated to the sport, and staying consistent is where its at. Even if you don't see yourself growing right away, keep on weight lifting and stay with it, you'll see progress sooner or later. Quitting is for losers.

Milos Sarcev - Secret of the pros

So you want to learn about nutrition? Milos Sarcev, one of the best nutritionist in the world will show you how to. It's worth the watch.

Watch part one: Milos Sarcev Part one

Watch part two: Milos Sarcev Part Two

Watch part three: Milos Sarcev Part Three

Watch part four: Milos Sarcev Part Four

Watch part five: Milos Sarcev Part Five

Watch part six: Milos Sarcev Part Six


Good luck and enjoy the videos.

TeensBodybuilding.blogspot.com

Frequently Asked Questions about Nutrition

Q: How many meals per day should I eat?
A: If you are a newbie to weight lifting, you should be getting 6 meals a day, every 3 hours or so. Once you get used to eating 6 meals per day, start adding 1 meal every 3 months. Once you have reached 8 meals, start adding calories to each meal. This is a very good way to start bulking up.

Q: How much protein should I eat?
A: Proven by research, the right amount of protein to eat is 1g per pound of body weight. Usually teenagers get 1g-1.5g of protein per pound of body weight. What are the benefits of doing this? You're 100% sure you will always get enough protein to nourish your body, especially when bodybuilding.
ie: I weigh 180lbs, my protein intake is 180g.

Q: What are complex carbs?
A: Complex carbohydrates are long chains of sugar molecules that are called starches. They are stored as energy and are very efficient when dieting or bulking. Complex carbohydrates are high in pasta, whole wheat bread, brown rice, sweet potato, baked potatoes and more. These complex carbs are easily digested and have some dietary fiber.

Q: How many calories should I eat?
A: When lean bulking, you should be eating 3000-3500 calories clean. When bulking, you should be eating 4000-4500 calories. When cutting, you should be eating 2000 calories depending on your body weight. The calories you are eating should always be clean. If you are really having a hard time getting your calories in, try to get in a piece of junk food once or twice a day to help you boost those calories up.

Bodybuilding Motivation - Great to watch before your workout!

This video is simply great. Followed by a quote of "The pursuit of happiness", this has to be one of the best motivating videos out there, hands down.

Testosterone Levels and Masturbation

The question whether ejaculation or sex before workouts will effect their strength or muscle gains is a common question when it comes to teenagers. Some believe that masturbation before an athletic event will increase their strength gains or their athletic performance.

A study published by "New Scientist" showed that testosterone levels rised after being aroused for 15 minutes WITHOUT ejaculation. The research consisted of 10 men and 10 women, who were exposed to a pornographic film for 15 minutes. The testosterone levels increased by 100% for men and by 80% for women. These testosterone levels also showed aggression and sexual aggression.



Believe it or not, studies on the effects of ejaculation and testosterone are mostly done with animals. A study was issued on a rat, that ejaculated and it's testosterone levels were twice as high, and after ejaculation 4 times in a row, the testosterone levels still remained high.

Final thought: Does it help? Yes it does. To increase testosterone levels, you have to be sexually aroused with ejaculation for 15 minutes. Results may vary.

How can I build a fast 6 pack?

As some of you might know, there's no such thing as building a fast 6 pack. A 6 pack takes a lot of work year round. Most teenagers want a 6 pack for the summer and ask people around them how they can get a fast 6 pack in 2 months. Let me break it to you right now, it's not possible if you're not dedicated. Maybe you haven't worked year round, and you want a 6 pack now, but it's going to be hard.

First exercise you should be doing for good ab development are leg raises. These are easy to do, and develop good lower ab muscle. Second exercise are regular crunches, you don't want to do too many of these. You can do 2 sets of 20 reps for these to start it off. Then add an extra set every week. Third and final exercise would be decline crunches, for most teenagers, these work very well, and build strong hard abs.



When I talked about dedication earlier on in this article, I wasn't talking about training. Oh no no no. I was talking about dieting! What most teenagers don't know, is that dieting is one of the most important factors when it comes to bodybuilding. Bodybuilding isn't the only thing there is to build muscle. High protein diets are the way to go in this case, you want to keep your protein at 1g per pound of bodyweight, and the rest of calories you can fill up with carbs and healthy fats. Now you want to stay at about 2500-3000 calories to build muscle and stay at your current weight. Obviously, you don't want to gain too much fat knowing that you want a 6 pack for the summer.

This was just a little article to sum it up, good luck to you guys!

Getting Shredded: 20 tips for a lean physique

As you proceed along the bodybuilding lifestyle path, it is inevitable that at some point you will desire to display your physique in the best way possible. Whether your goal is to compete, look better at the beach or at a special occasion, be more attractive to the opposite sex or take pride in your hard work and accomplishments, nutritional manipulation through dieting as well as dedication to a rational plan–remains the best route to revealing the fruits of your labor.




Over the years, we have found that these are the most significant facets for eliminating bodyfat, which can obscure muscle definition. Consider them when putting together a dieting program that lets you exhibit your physique at its best.

1 Calories Are The Tipping Point

There are numerous tricks you can implement to help burn bodyfat. The key principle above all others is to create a calorie, or energy, deficit to stimulate the body to burn bodyfat as fuel. That means eating less, whether it be fewer calories from dietary fat, carbs or a combo of the two.

2 Calorie Deficits: Weekly Approach

Conventional wisdom states that you have to eat fewer calories daily to shed fat. Not true. On average, you have to eat fewer calories over a seven-day period to drop bodyfat. You can fudge a bit by eating fewer calories than normal for a couple of days, followed by a couple of very strict days and then a few days where you eat roughly what you did before starting the diet.

3 Protein Needs Rise During Dieting

When excess calories from dietary fat and carbs are removed from a diet, the body burns small amounts of amino acids from protein or, worse, muscle mass when calories decline. The extra protein protects muscle loss, because it can be burned in lieu of muscle tissue.

4 Aggressive Dieting Leads Nowhere

If you cut calories too drastically, the body tries to hoard energy by slowing down its metabolism, the calorie-burning mechanism in the body. Moderate cuts in calories, such as decreasing daily caloric intake by 200-400 per day (or 1,400-2,800 per week), allows the body to tap into fat reserves without throwing the metabolism into a tailspin.




5 The Role Of Protein

Of the three sources of energy (carbohydrates, protein and dietary fat), protein has the least impact on fat storage. Overeating calories from carbs and dietary fat will lead to their accumulation as bodyfat. That’s not to say you can, or should, gorge on protein. It means you should add more protein from chicken, turkey or fish instead of snacking on additional carbs or fat to satiate hunger.

6 “Step-Up” Dieting Preserves Muscle & Promotes Fat Loss

Although reducing dietary fat and carbs results in fat loss, keeping carbs down for a prolonged period (more than seven days) can deplete glycogen (stored carbs) reserves in muscle. Low glycogen can trigger the burning of metabolically active muscle tissue. Increasing carb intake by 100-200 grams once each week should replenish glycogen reserves sufficiently to avoid muscle loss and may even increase the metabolism.

7 Thermogenics Offset Metabolic Downturns

Synephrine, evodiamine and capsaicin are common thermogenic agents. They stimulate the nervous system to increase the production of norepinephrine, which, in turn, causes fat cells to release and burn bodyfat. Thermogenics are predominantly helpful in preventing the metabolic slowdown that comes with long-term dieting.

8 Overdieting Has Its Place

Sometimes you have to go to the extreme. A very-low-carb day once every 10 to 12 days, during which you limit your carbs to just 50-80 g, can trick the body into greater fat loss by lowering glycogen reserves. That amplifies fat burning.

9 Disrupt The Regimen

Over time, all diets ultimately cause slowing of the metabolism. When you hit a true “nothing works” roadblock, get off your diet! Eat anything you want for a couple of days–within reason. Load up on “good” carbs and fat before returning to the diet. This splurge will kick up thyroid hormones, which tend to spiral downward with long-term dieting. Once you’re back on your diet, your body will resume burning bodyfat.

10 Fiber Is A Wild Card

Let’s compare two diets with equal amounts of calories and carbohydrates, with the sole difference being the source of carbs. One diet comprises fast-digesting near-fiber-free carbs, such as rice cakes, white rice, white bread and cold cereals. The other comprises slower-digesting fiber-dense carbs, such as oatmeal, whole-grain bread, beans, brown rice and sweet potatoes. The fiber-dense approach will likely result in greater long-term fat loss. Why? Higher amounts of insulin are generally associated with greater fat storage and lower fat burning. Fiber slows the digestion of carbs, which moderates insulin secretion.

11 Glutamine Boosts Recovery & Conserves BCAA’s

Glutamine spares the burning of branched-chain amino acids, which are used in greater amounts when calories decline. Glutamine has also been found to increase metabolic rate and fat burning. Try 5 g of BCAAs before training and another 5 g after training, as well as with breakfast and before bed.

12 Low Blood Sugar Amps Fat loss

When you train with restricted amounts of glucose from carbs in the bloodstream, the natural, training-induced release of the fat-burning hormone norepinephrine exerts a greater impact on fat cells. That’s why the pretraining meal should be a combo of easy-to-digest protein, such as whey protein, with relatively limited amounts of carbs (less than 20 g). Particularly, the carbs should be slow-digesting types, such as fruit, oatmeal, Cream of Rye cereal or whole-grain bread.

13 Fish: A Dieters Best Friend

Many types of fish are virtually fat free and when you deprive the body of the fatty acids found in dietary fat, it encourages the breakdown of bodyfat to make up for the fatty-acid shortfall. The result when you add fish to your eating plan: you will burn more fat.

14 Fatty Fish Also Assist

Even “high fat” fish, such as salmon, bluefish, mackerel and tuna steaks, are “leaner” than protein foods that have comparable amounts of dietary fat, such as red meat, cheese or eggs. These fish sources provide omega-3 fatty acids, which encourage the body to take glucose from carbs and repartition it, sending it down glycogen-storing pathways rather than fat-storing ones. A four-month study demonstrated that 63 overweight subjects who ate higher-fat fish daily lost more weight than those eating fish only once per week.



15 Ratios Are Important

Calories count, and so does the source of the calories. Check out this study. Two groups of women followed a 1,600-calorie daily diet that included 50 g of fat. The difference was that one group went with higher protein and fewer carbs, while the other followed a higher-carb, lower-protein menu. After 10 weeks, both segments lost a similar amount of weight, but a closer look reveals that the higher-protein group had higher thyroid levels and metabolic rates, lost 18% more fat and retained 27% more muscle. The takeaway message: the type of calories affects fat loss. When in doubt, the way to go is more protein and fewer carbs.

16 No Carbs Before Bed

A secondary goal while dieting is to maximize GH output. GH spares the burning of muscle, thereby propping up the metabolism and encouraging the breakdown of bodyfat. GH levels rise in the first 90 minutes of sleep, but the total amount of glucose (from digested carbs) in the blood affects GH release. In short, a low blood-glucose level allows for maximal GH release. Abstain from carbs in the final meal (or two) before bed.

17 Frequent Meals

If you are eating fewer weekly calories than your body is accustomed to, nothing beats eating at least five times a day. Small meals impact fat loss by preventing the metabolism from slowing. They also keep energy levels more stable and ward off feelings of hunger, which is helpful to a dieter trying to get by on less food.

18 Fat Fighters: GLA & CLA

Gamma linolenic acid is an essential fatty acid common to borage oil and black currant seed oil. Conjugated linoleic acid is a fatty acid contained in dairy foods and beef (both are available in supplement form). GLA appears to induce the fat surrounding the spinal cord and organs, sometimes called metabolically inactive fat, to burn calories similar to muscle tissue. CLA likely affects hormone-sensitive lipase levels. HSL acts as a gatekeeper on fat cells to determine when to “open up,” so fat can be burned. CLA can upgrade HSL activity, making you leaner.

19 Never Emphasize Cutting Calories Over Muscle Retention

The minute you cut calories too far, you start compromising muscle mass. Burning muscle, in turn, significantly impairs your long-term objective by slowing down the metabolic rate. As metabolism slows, continued fat loss becomes nothing more than an exercise in futility.

20 Take A Total Break

The body simply does not respond well to continually pushing past the boundaries of lower-calorie intake, especially when implementing all kinds of diet and training strategies. When the body no longer responds, the ideal remedy is to take two or three days off from training while consuming a reasonable menu before beginning again. It’s a contrarian approach, yet it can be remarkably effective.