Now that you’re done with the holiday’s it’s time to get on track. Jumping right into it; in week 1-4 you’re going to use all the extra calories you’ve consumed to build some muscle. Coming into this program in a calorie surplus will serve as an advantage as the first weeks of the program focus’ on strength-building and mass-building. Believe it or not, you still will consume a decent amount of carbohydrates to recover from the day-to-day assault on your body, especially from Monday through Thursday, which are both heavily loaded, lower body days.
Below is a sample diet. You will eat approximately 2,800-2,500 calories is you have a 170-180lb. target.
Transitioning into week’s 5 and 6 you should be carrying a few more pounds of solid mass on and it’s time to begin the process of stripping the fat off to reveal all of the hard work you’ve done over the past month. The most important thing about week’s 5 and 6 is that you’re just beginning the fat loss process. So while you’ll be cutting back on the carbs, it’s not a switch to a carb-free diet. You will still need those carbs for recovery. Essentially, this period is where you’ll be increasing caloric expendature and reducing your consumption; slowly. Do not be surprised if you notice a slight decrease in strength; this can be expected when moving into more of a fat-loss and conditioning program vs. a strength and mass-building plan.
Below is a sample diet. You will be eating approximately 2,500-2,250 calories.
Finally working into week’s 7 and 8, you’re in full blown fat-burn mode. Your total calories in will drop along with your carbohydrates. However, your fat intake whill remain elevated to stabilize hormone levels and make up for the reduction in total calories and carbs. Your strength may decrease again, but again, this is an extreme fat-loss portion of the program. Workouts will be challenging and tiresome, but worth the reward in the end. Make it through these last two weeks of workouts and it’s back to mass-building from week 1.
Here is a sample diet. You will eat approximately 2,000 calories.
The Strong and Lean in 2015 program was produced for MENSFITNESS.com by HUMANFITPROJECT in association with PR360GLOBAL.