There are so many different workout plans to consider when looking to gain muscle and lose fat that it can be very confusing and intimidating for the average person that is new to fitness. If you find yourself to be confused, don’t be alarmed or embarrassed, we have all been there before. I can remember when I first started on my post high school metabolism is no longer working right journey to getting back into shape. I had the same feelings many of you are probably feeling right now…..no need to fret, this article will give some solid basic/core information that will enable men and women to build/tone muscle and lose fat by simply addressing how to eat, lift weights, and do the right kind of cardio.

Hands down, the most difficult part of this equation is the eating right part. It is the most difficult because you have twenty four hours to screw up. You may do really well all morning and afternoon long, but come sundown you can really blow it by eating a tub of ice cream. Another reason it’s the most difficult part of the equation is because we all have friends/people around us who couldn’t care less about eating right and are tempting us with bad eating habits, either intentionally (to make themselves feel better) or by default.

I like to keep things simple, especially difficult processes like eating right so here is all you need to know when it comes to eating; it’s all about calorie intake. That’s right. Just count your calories. I’m not gonna confuse you by telling you to eat this and that at this time of the day blah, blah, blah. While there are some really good eating plan/strategies available, for our purposes today I want to keep it basic and get you in the mindset of counting your calories. Why? Because if you burn off more calories than your daily calorie intake requires to sustain your current body weight, YOU WILL LOSE FAT/WEIGHT. That’s right. For example, if I require 3000 calories a day to sustain my weight of 205 lbs, I should only consume about 2500 calories and I will start to drop fat and weight.

Ok, so you have your calories calculated, now you need to lift weights to maintain your muscle tone. This is the fun part and probably the easiest part of the calculation when wanting to gain muscle and lose fat. You only have to lift for about 30-45 minutes, 4-5 days a week and can have great results in that time frame. Again, I’m not gonna give you some elaborate lifting schedule today, we’ll save that for another day. For now all I want to address is maximizing your time while lifting the weights.

No matter what/how you are lifting, the secret to getting good results is having less than 60 seconds of rest in between your reps and less than 2 minutes of rest in between different exercises. That’s right, you can mix it up any way you want, as long as you have short rest in between the reps/exercises, you will keep you muscles filled with blood and force them to respond positively to the weight lifting/resistance training you are performing.

Lastly, you need to do the right kind of cardio. That’s right, the right kind. This statement assumes there is a wrong kind of cardio. There is when it comes to gaining muscle and losing fat. If you get on a treadmill or elliptical machine and never break a sweat, I’m sorry to break this to you, but you are accomplishing nothing but fooling yourself into believing you are gonna get results.

The right way to do cardio when wanting to gain muscle and lose fat it to do interval cardio training. This is a great way to get your heart rate up, break a sweat, and burn off the fat. Interval cardio training is this simple: get on a treadmill, walk for one minute and then sprint for one minute. Keep switching back and forth between walking and sprinting. Do this for twenty minutes total and you will have done wonders. When I do this I walk at 3.5 mph and sprint anywhere from 8-11mph. You will need to experiment with the mph to find out what is a safe sprint for you. Just make sure you are sprinting and not merely jogging. You will get you rest when you walk so sprint hard for each 60 second interval.

There you have it. It’s this simple. I promise that if you combine eating right, weight lifting, and doing the right kind of cardio as I have explain in each section above, you WILL begin to gain muscle and lose fat and do it very effectively. How fast it happens will depend on how dedicated to these three principles you are and how well you apply them to your everyday life so that it truly becomes a lifestyle for you. Good things happen to those who don’t put off tomorrow what should be done today!