Elite Physique The New Science of Building a Better Body

62 Elite Physique
training, or coming back from a long layoff, you may increase strength and muscle
mass during a caloric deficit while also losing fat. But if you’re an intermediate to
advanced lifter who’s been training consistently for the past few years, you may
be lucky to maintain your muscle mass while losing fat. The more likely outcome
is that you’ll lose some muscle along with the fat. That said, if you have a lot of
fat covering strong and well-developed muscles, you will probably appear more
muscular as you get leaner, even though you actually have less total muscle. It’s a
trade-off most of us will gladly make when the goal is to improve your physique.
The fourth change—shorter rest periods—increases the density of your workout.
In other words, you perform more work in less time. Your heart rate will
increase, and you’ll breathe harder from the greater cardiorespiratory demand
(Alcaraz, Sanchez-Lorente, and Blazevich 2008). You’ll also have higher levels
of EPOC (excess postexercise oxygen consumption), which means you continue
to burn calories at a higher rate in the hours following your workout (Greer et
al. 2015). Some research suggests EPOC aids in fat loss, although probably not
to the extent you often see promoted in fitness marketing (Williams et al. 2013).
Calorie burning is also the reason for the fifth change. Metabolic work is
similar to strength training with limited rest periods, in that it raises your heart
rate and contributes to EPOC. The low-intensity cardiorespiratory exercise on
the days in between strength workouts will also burn calories and train your
body to better utilize fat for fuel. So why not do only high-intensity metabolic
exercise, like interval training, on nonlifting days? The goal is to limit fatigue and
facilitate recovery. High-intensity exercise creates an acid load on the body that
must be buffered by your kidneys, which can be stressful if you do too much of
it. Simply walking at a brisk pace on those days, instead of remaining sedentary,
will increase circulation, which helps your body clear the waste products left
over from your strength workouts.
Final Thoughts
In this chapter, we talk about the differences between training for fat loss or
muscle gain. To recap what we covered earlier: Almost any well-designed resistance
training program has the potential to build muscle or burn fat, to some
degree. But you won’t gain much muscle when consuming a caloric deficit each
day or lose fat when eating a caloric surplus, no matter how hard you try. That’s
why specific nutrition and training adjustments are often necessary to optimize
your results. And if you’re unsure which goal to focus on first, take a look in the
mirror. If there’s any excess fat around your midsection, focus on fat loss first.