The Truth: When it comes to a really impressive looking body muscle definition makes a big difference. After all there is not a lot of point in having muscle if it’s covered up by a layer of fat. The trick is knowing how to increase your muscle definition without the usual gumpf about hours on the treadmill, back breaking weights and mind bending drugs supplements.
The Tale: Spring 2010
Now I’m no narcissist but I can’t stop looking in the mirror. You see every time I look at it I seem to be getting better. A few weeks ago I swear I looked like the roly-poly man, but it feels as though everything has, finally, just clicked into place. My muscle definition is the best it’s ever been…….but it will be better tomorrow. I’ve cracked it!……
Well they say you never forget your first time, and in this case they are right because the days when I finally figured out how to increase my definition are keepers for sure. It was like all the stuff I’d learned, discarded, and given up on finally began to make sense and I knew exactly what to do.
"There are moments in life when you know you’ve crossed a bridge, your old life is over"
It all makes sense now of course, and now I totally get how to maintain just the level of muscle definition I want. For this post I’ve condensed the formula into 5 tips that I hope you can learn from too and start putting to use. Here they are:
1) Aim to get and stay lean
First be sure to choose and use methods you can live with. Lean is for life, or at least it should be. Don’t be like the bodybuilders who balloon out of shape post contest and stay that way the rest of the year. Every day is your catwalk, and being in great shape should be a year round thing.
Not only that but you get benefits for your look as your skin shrinks over time to fit the lean you, making your muscles look even more defined. The longer you stay lean, the better you look.
For a deeper explanation of why this happens check out the videos here.
2) Lower your insulin
Don’t worry, I’m not about to get all technical, apart fron to say that insulin is a storage hormone that removes excess sugar from the bloodstream. Higher insulin levels put you in a fat storage state, when you want to be in a fat burning state. The simplest way to apply this is to cut back on foods containing sugar, processed carbodydrates and grains, which all stimulate high levels of insulin.
3) Use fat for fuel
Follow point 2 and this happens automatically. Fat for fuel is the default setting of the human body and this is how it worked until relatively recently in human history when we started to change our diet to more mass produced “edible food products”.
4) Make use of skipping
No, not jumping rope, but rather, skipping the odd meal. When you use fat for fuel you will be freed of the sugar rush and the ride on the crash and crave rollercoaster that goes with it. You’ll find the with a regulated appetite you are less hungry and the prospect of skipping meals is an easy one. I used the program Eat Stop Eat to learn how to do this.
5) Use quick workouts
I’m a massive fan of quick workouts. Not only will they spare you time to get on with the real business of living your life, but they allow you to increase the workload on your muscles, to literally develop them as fast as possible, it creates the perfect cocktail of muscle building and fat burning hormones so you’re building muscle and burning the fat to reveal it.
I find nothing makes me feel alive like this kind of workout, heart racing, blood rushing and muscle pumping up like a balloon. It’s awesome, especially when you want to get in peak condition.
Follow my 5 tips and you’ll soon be the definition of muscle definition.
To the good life
Michael
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Good tips for muscle definition. The one that really hits home with me right now is the first one…get lean and stay lean. Too often I’ve gotten down to low levels of body fat either to let myself go or go on an ill advised mass gaining adventure. Since I’ve been at the same weight and body fat level for a while now, I notice a lot more ab definition than I used to have.
Dave – Not Your Average Fitness Tips´s last [type] ..Best Fitness Tips
Excellent list of points. I relate best to the skipping meals and minimal workouts.
Fasting for me works every time if I need to drop body fat and short workouts are best for the long term training.
Raymond
Raymond – ZenMyFitness´s last [type] ..How To Use Advanced Weight Lifting Techniques to Break Through Plateaus
Dave,
I used to do the same, never sure if I wanted to be lean, or huge. Usually it depended on which movie I’d been watching. I think it’s great that nowadays the lean look with muscle definition is favoured over the wannabe bodybuilder look.
Staying lean is the gift that keeps on giving, the longer you go, the better it gets.
Michael
Raymond,
cheers. It amazes me how many people use intermittent fasting to get and stay lean. If only I’d realised this years ago! Having said that, I suppose I wouldn’t have such a story to tell, so all’s well that ends well.
Michael
Great tips, thank you. I am the meal skipping + quick workouts type. I also try to stay lean and never been able to relate to ‘bulking’. The great thing about staying lean is that not only you get great muscle definition but your skin stays nice and tight, and silky smooth as your muscles grow.
Mark´s last [type] ..Gain Weight – diet basics for skinny guys
I just wanted to comment on a couplet things that help as well. First the only thing I disagree on is skipping meals because this puts your body into fat conservation and can raise insulin levels for people who pack on weight easily (if you are naturally skinny like your profile said though I don’t know maybe that works for ya, I am naturally a fat guy if I don’t work out and watch what I eat constantly, if I drink alcohol or have any simple sugar at all I’ll see it on the scale). You should never feel hungry if you want to burn fat, especially if you are a person who typically can gain weight fast. The best meal method most trainers agree with is 6 smaller meals a day to keep your body in fat burning zone without any kind of hunger shock that would slow you down.
the other one most body builders know for definition is a lot of water – 8-10 8oz glasses a day will make your skin more firm and shine more which increases definition.
Get rid of the sweet zero calorie drinks – digestion begins in the mouth, when something sweet hits your tongue your body actually shuts down your fat burning “engine” for hours. Diet sodas, splenda, sweet n low, even crystal light can cause you to hang on to body fat.
Vitamin B – you need this to engage fat burning, and get rid of simple sugars you ingest.
Cardio that last bit of sub-dermal fat your body hangs on to.
The last one which may sound a bit odd to some, is being warm. Your body stores fat for 2 reasons – cold and food. If your body is “cold” (literally if you feel cold) you will have a harder time losing weight because your body will naturally want to pack on more fat. One of the reasons everyone in Miami looks good, is because it’s hotter. I have moved around the world several times, and I am 100% positive I have an easier time losing weight in warmer climates and in warmer times of year. Especially if I don’t over air condition my house. Since figuring this one out I have gotten a six pack for the first time by doing cardio in an 80 degree room rather than a 70 degree room. Sweating off the fat honestly does work.
lastly, a tan. Darker skin shows definition better, although I am a ginger and that really doesn’t happen for me.