HOW TO LOSE FAT & BUILD MUSCLE | UNTAPPED STRENGTH POTENTIAL

In this article I'm going to be talking about a topic that if I may suggest, is applicable to anyone on a properly designed strength training program: untapped strength potential.

UNTAPPED STRENGTH POTENTIAL

This is what is frequently referred to as the "newbie effect" in lifting. This effect is characterized by a rapid increase in strength and size ( sometimes up to ~ 4 - 6 lb. muscle per month! Compare this to the ~ 2 - 3 lb. / mo. muscle most can expect ).

This is significant.

There is a huge misconception hidden in plain sight about the actual mechanism behind this effect.

It is often considered an effect only applicable to new lifters.

But not only does this phenomenon depend on your training experience as a whole, just as much if not more, it depends on the muscle memory accumulated within each individual muscle across all of your muscle groups.

Thus, each individual muscle carries its own strength potential - the intrinsic ability of healthy individual muscles to grow stronger over time.

Put simply, if you have not yet reached certain milestones in relative strength indicators for all the muscles in your body (chances are you haven't), then you still have within you untapped strength potential and thus as a consequence also untapped growth potential.

Let's tie this in with the 'holy grail of body sculpting': gaining muscle and dropping body-fat simultaneously, and we've got an actual recipe.

As long as you structure the foundation of your training around strength gains on a set of key movements, and eat at a modest caloric deficit to support fat oxidation, then you can be gaining muscle and burning fat simultaneously right now.

If you are already lean, this strength-focused progression model is still an extremely powerful foundation because it will correlate to the most muscle gains across your entire lifting career.

Your performance on the following exercises in the 3 - 8 rep range will be great indicators of relative strength:

KEY MOVEMENTS FOR A DENSE PHYSIQUE

1. Pressing Movements

Chest (Pectoralis)

• Upper Chest (Pectoralis Major, the Clavicular Head): Incline Bench Press (BB or DB)

• Lower Chest (Pectoralis Minor, the Sternal Head): Weighted Parallel Bar Dips / Ring Dips

Shoulders (Deltoids)

• Front Deltoids (Anterior Heads): Overhead Shoulder Press (Seated DB or Standing BB), Incline / Flat Bench

• Mid Deltoids (Medial Heads): Lateral Raises

• Rear Deltoids (Posterior Heads): Reverse Pec-Deck, Lateral Raises, Seated Cable Rows, Bent Over Flyes

Legs

• Quadriceps: Front Squats

• Glutes: Reverse Lunges, Bulgarian Split Squats

• Calves: Weighted Calf Raises

• Vastus Medialis Obliques or VMO (teardrop muscles): Leg Extensions, Split Squats

** The triceps are targeted in nearly all of these upper body pressing movements through the locking out at the bottom of repetitions. You can always do some isolated triceps work i.e. in the form of triceps rope pull-downs.

2. Pulling Movements

Back (Lats)

• Upper: Pull-Ups (grip may vary), Mid-Grip Lat Pull-Downs, Seated Cable/Machine Rows

• Lower: Bent-over Rows

Biceps:

• Long Head: Standing BB or DB Curls

• Short Head: Hammer Grip DB Curls

** The biceps are also targeted at the positive half of repetitions for major pulling movements like weighted pull-ups, lat pull-downs, rows, and flyes.

THE POWER OF COMPOUND LIFTS X 5 REPS

Among these relative strength indicators, for the sake of example, let's focus on one exercise and one rep value: the incline bench press for 5 reps.

This compound movement at this rep value will be a very strong indicator of relative strength and V-shape aesthetics.

With this said, let's imagine that one has already achieved a chiseled, low body fat physique such as that which is developed through a strength training program like the Royal Chisel.

Consider a 155 lb. male, incline bench pressing 155 lb. for 5 reps. That is a relative strength of 1.0x .

Just divide [ weight lifted / bodyweight ] to obtain an exercise's relative strength multiplier.

As a natural lifter, one can hope to achieve strength much greater than this over time!

For the incline bench press the natural limit is probably around 1.4x, assuming you remain lean (~10% body-fat).

This means that our individual still has enormous room to accommodate further strength gains.

This individual would still have about 0.4x their bodyweight left to progress in their incline bench press:

That is a little over 60 lb. of remaining strength potential (0.4 x 155 lb. = 62 lb.) in this movement! Thus, said person could still hope to increase their bench up to ~215 lb. for 5 repetitions, assuming their weight remains the same. This assumption will obviously not be true, since bodyweight will slowly increase in proportion to strength gains.

Keeping mind that such a progression could reasonably take anywhere from 9 months to a year or possibly longer depending on how consistent one is with one's training sessions, in such a time one could reasonably expect to gain 15 - 25 pounds of muscle.

Imagining that our hypothetical 155 lb. individual gained 15 lb. of muscle, putting them at 170 lb., then, at that absolute incline bench strength of (215 lb. x 5), relative strength would actually be about 1.25x .

( 215 / 170 = 1.26).

This very fact, that bodyweight increases in proportion to absolute strength gains, leaves even more room for relative strength gains!

At a bodyweight of 170 lb., achieving a 1.4x multiplier on this movement would be the stage when this person is lifting (240 lb. x 5)! This is insane strength; this would be considered to be elite-level strength and muscle development.

Going from 1.25x to 1.4x could take another 2 - 3 months, and have one increase their weight to a chiseled 175 lb. physique. T o achieve a 1.4x multiplier at this weight would call for a (245 lb. x 5) lifting strength.

This could take perhaps a couple more weeks.

You can see that strength will eventually level off to your strength limits on any given exercise, and your weight towards your maximum natural lean bodyweight.

The person we used in this scenario was assumed to be a lean individual holding the chiseled physique developed in my Royal Chisel program. The time-frame described is reasonable for such a strength progression; about a year-long journey or so, give or take a few months.

To begin building such a powerful and chiseled physique, learn more here about how to build muscle and lose fat to sculpt your Adonis physique. Also be looking out for my new upcoming program which will be geared towards a muscle gaining focused phase, which covers in depth the journey for developing the Adonis Physique, a physique characterized by incredible strength and aesthetic, proportionate muscle development, accompanied by athletic levels of body-fat.

Join the Adonis Physique Journey, find us on social media, and watch your body absolutely transform, along with countless others following the Adonis lifestyle.

Sincerely,

Gerardo