Many people know that losing fat and getting in shape is extremely difficult. But they learn the basics of nutrition, exercise, and a healthy lifestyle, and eventually they begin to lose fat. For men, the problem does not end there. Most men not only want to get rid of their beer belly, they also want to be muscular and proportionate. Pure cardio will not do this, as pure cardio will eventually break down muscle, giving you fat loss along with muscle loss. How do men overcome this problem?
1. Modified Nutrition. Turbulence Training by Craig Ballantyne talks about the modified nutrition men need, basically having at least one gram of protein per body pound per day, just to maintain the muscle they do maintain. They will need 1.5-2 grams per pound of body per day to build muscle. The Turbulence Training program tailors workouts to allow men to build muscle while burning fat at the same time.
2. Modified exercise. Since women have low testosterone levels, they cannot gain as much muscle mass as men. What this means for them is that they can simply do cardio for an hour a day and, with basic nutrition, still lose fat. For men, it is much more difficult. Pure cardio means they will burn fat and muscle. Turbulence training programs are modified to target muscle gain while fat loss occurs, through intricate compound exercises and supersets.
Tip: For those new to bodybuilding, a pound of muscle burns 50 calories per day for maintenance. Which means that if you’ve put on 10 pounds of muscle, you’ll burn an extra 500 calories per day without doing anything extra. And that’s an extra pound of fat per week!