Memorial Day Muscle Building Rules

Are you ready for my famous "gain muscle or lose fat" chart?

I know this is going to make a few people mad, but it's the truth about whether a guy should lose fat or gain muscle. If he doesn't stick to my recommendations, he won't get the ripped abs and muscles he wants.

I often get scrawny guys asking me how to lose fat, when they have no muscle underneath the fat...they think they will look good if they "get ripped", but in reality, will look like they are starving. They should focus on gaining muscle instead.

This is a harsh lesson in reality, but too many guys are trying to lose weight when the focus should be on gaining muscle.

In fact, through my experience in working with athletes and dozens of men in the gym trying to lose fat and gain muscle, I've come up with a height-weight chart that determines whether or not you should lose weight.

Here's the chart identifying the cut-off weight for muscle building, and the rule below.

5'6" - 140 pounds
5'7" - 145 pounds
5'8" - 150 pounds
5'9" - 155 pounds
5'10 - 160 pounds

And so on. For every inch taller, add 5 pounds. For every inch shorter, subtract 5 pounds.

For example, if you are 5'8", 150 pounds, you should NOT be focusing on losing weight. You need to gain muscle if you want to look good on the beach and have muscle. Focusing on weight loss would be the worst thing you could do. If you do, you'll look like crap, and practically anorexic, to be blunt.

And even the numbers above are on the low, low end of acceptable. I'm really thinking about adding 10 more pounds to each (so that the baseline would be 5'8", 160 lbs).

So if you fall below these levels, you must focus on gaining muscle. This will improve the appearance of your body, and take you from a stick-figure to a lean, muscular physique with a better chance of seeing your abs.

And don't worry, you're not going to look huge. At 5'8", a guy would have to be at least 190 in order to be considered "jacked" or "huge".

And the best news of all? Because skinny guys are untrained, simply starting a muscle building program will give them maximum fat loss and muscle gain at the same time. They are going to get the best of both worlds.

Here's how to do it...

If you are using a strength + cardio/intervals program (like Turbulence Training) to gain muscle and lose fat, cut the hard cardio and stick to the weight training workouts only.

Avoid the hard interval cardio for at least 4 weeks as you gain muscle, and eat extra calories right after your workout (as well as having a bigger breakfast than normal). These two changes will allow you to gain muscle and lose fat.

Sometimes you need to try to gain muscle before you try to lose weight,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS



Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
More From Fitness