Maintaining Strength While Dieting

By Justin Harris

For www.EliteFTS.com

Trying to decrease body fat while maintaining and/or increasing your strength? Confused about supplements, food intake, and nutrient timing? Read on…

According to most studies on the subject, the human body is mostly anabolic around the 10–15% body fat range, which is actually fairly low. As you gain body fat, your body will actually increase the production of estrogen and “learn” to store body fat better. For dieting, while maintaining strength, rotate your carbs and calories.

Keep your carbs and total calories higher on heavy training days (ME days for example), drop them a bit on other training days, and take your carbs and calories very low on off days. Your low carb off days could also be a day to focus on cardio.

You don’t have to lose strength when losing fat. Don’t let yourself believe that. The muscle is still there. You still have the contractile tissue to move the weight. Your leverages will change and you may have less energy reserves, but your strength potential should still be there. If you believe you’ll lose strength, you will.

For example, one of my training partners and good friends, Steve Kuclo, is a two time teen national bodybuilding champion and won a national qualifier overall at the age of 20 in bodybuilding. When he did his first bodybuilding diet, he didn’t know that you were “supposed to lose strength” on low carbs and low energy. He was young, and no one told him that farce. So, he just didn’t lose strength. He didn’t know that was supposed to happen. He figured that he was going to the gym and training. He assumed that when you lift weights, you’re supposed to get stronger. So he just kept getting stronger.

Keep the nutrition basic. You will get the vast majority of your gains in nutrition from a few simple, basic things:

 

1.      Eat protein every few hours.

2.      Eat multiple times per day (I eat six or more times a day).

3.      Eat complex carbohydrate sources with higher amounts around your workout

4.      If you eat fat, make it good fat, and watch the calories.

 

If you do that EVERY day, you’ll be farther ahead after five years than you would be by missing just one day of that per week but knowing EVERYTHING about perfect supplementation. Supplements provide a big boost IF your basic nutrition is in line. Remember, if you can’t pick it, grow it, or kill it, you shouldn’t be eating it.

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As owner of Troponin Nutrition, and the reigning Jr. USA Super Heavyweight bodybuilding champion, Justin Harris has helped hundreds of athletes with individualized, sport specific diet and nutrition planning. His writing on nutrition and performance has been spotlighted in publications including Muscular Development and Ironman magazine and he has been featured on the cover of numerous others. Justin holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Alma College and was a two-time division III all American in football. He also was 2000 Division III MVP/Player-of-the-year and was featured in Street and Smith’s as pre-season “Small College MVP.” He recently achieved an elite total classification in the 275-pound weight class in his very first powerlifting contest. He squatted 876 pounds, bench pressed 573 pounds and deadlifted 700 pounds for a combined total of 2149 pounds.

Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit us at www.EliteFTS.com.