Basics of diet and training for «drying»

Author: Tkachenko Sergey - Master of sport in bodybuilding.
2014-06-20

Probably the most relevant and desired topic in the BB is diet, and you can't argue with that. After all, it's an everlasting topic for discussion, and no one will give you definite answers to this question. Well, except for me, of course. Just a joke )) Or maybe not...

To eat or not to eat? A rhetorical question... Some say: eat chicken breasts and rice. Others - vegetables. The third group tries to stuff you with fat burners, and then say that all their knowledge helped you, and it’s definitely not clen (clenbuterol). Or something stronger than that. Enough listening to all sorts of nonsense.

If you don't know what to eat in order to lose weight, first of all, you need to learn self-control and gather some knowledge about the energy-burning process of your body. You should also study the nutritional table of foods, their glycemic properties, and have at least basic knowledge about vitamins and minerals. This is just for your own understanding so that you know what you're doing instead of mindlessly following advice from various charlatans without qualifications, personal experience in this field, and athletic achievements.

To lose weight, you don’t necessarily have to severely limit yourself or exhaust yourself with physical activities. You can literally lose weight while lying on the couch and not getting up from there. And this is not a scam! But no matter what, you will have to train after all. Sad, right? Well, there's nothing to be done about that. But for this, as I mentioned earlier, you don't need much.

How to Eat?

A person at rest burns up to 2000 kcal per day, depending on your weight and the amount of muscle mass. After all, the more meat you have on you, the more calories burn. More meat - more fat burns away. That's the first point. The second point. For fat to burn like in a "hell", you need to train and set a nutritional target for yourself. For example, at 2500-3000 kcal per day. If your weight stays the same - reduce calories. If you're gaining weight, it means you have too many calories. I don't believe in the nonsense that a person eats nothing and still gains weight, or that they have wide bones, or that something is wrong with their metabolism. It's all nonsense! A person cannot not eat and still get fat. This contradicts all laws of biology. If someone is gaining weight and claims they eat nothing, know that they're pulling the wool over your eyes.

And remember: count calories, and eat every 4 hours. Why every 4 hours? Because the body burns about 100-150 kcal per hour. And everything we eat burns in us like in an oven, leaving nothing extra. Also, keep in mind that after a workout, the fat-burning and anabolic effects last from 48 to 72 hours. And the main thing is to monitor the caloric intake. "It doesn't matter what you eat, it matters how much you eat."

How to Train?

You only need to train two or three times a week. And don't forget about cardio. Although, if you're not going to the gym, then just do cardio. Cardio should be such that your tongue is not hanging out, otherwise, you risk inducing a catabolic, not an anabolic effect. The best cardio is walking at a speed of 5.5-6 km per hour. The pace and speed of movement are important. When the pace is right, you don't get tired and can cover a considerable distance. For example, I walk 10 km in 1 hour and 30 minutes.

It's also very important that you do cardio not in the gym on a treadmill, because it’s easier there, but outside in the fresh air. When you walk outside, you get more oxygen, and oxygen participates in oxidative processes, specifically - it burns fat!

Of course, we lift weights in the gym. There's no need to take it outside, but work hard and do many repetitions in all exercises. Not to the point where you can't even crawl around the gym, but just enough to have the strength to get home.

The most important thing for us in the gym is the base. And that consists of deadlift, squat, and bench press. And the amplitude must be complete! In these exercises, you need to work hard and do a lot. Even on a diet, you can achieve high strength levels. When I was preparing for competitions in 2011, at a weight of 73 kg, I squatted a full squat with 205 kg for five repetitions, my bench press was 165-170 kg, and my deadlift was 210 kg for six repetitions. So if someone tells you that it’s impossible to gain strength on a diet, know that it is possible. If you have the brains, everything is possible!

Example Menu for "Cutting"

Below is a small illustration of how I ate. So you have an idea of what I was doing. It's all quite simple; there's no need to reinvent the wheel since nature has already done everything for us. Just take it and do it.