By Ben Lucas,
Owner of Sydney’s premier luxe fitness and yoga studio Flow Athletic
Fashion Week is just around the corner, and even though a ‘model body’ is often deemed unattainable (because many of the girls are under 20 or have very specific genetics), achieving long, lean muscle to compliment your strong physique can be done.
Here are my top tips for achieving long, lean muscle.
Maximise your Workout By Including Both Strength and Cardio Components
Strength and cardio workouts combine to become the perfect pair, so it’s a good idea to incorporate both training elements into your program.
Cardio helps get your heart rate up and get your body burning calories, while studies have shown that a good strength program can elevate your metabolism for up to 38 hours post workout. That is why it is good to include both strength and cardio into a weight loss program as resistance training will allow your body to continue to burn fat long after the session ends, whereas cardio will only really burn fat while you are training.
Do 1-2 Yoga Sessions each week
Cardio and strength workouts are great for torching fat, however they can often also leave your muscles looking short and feeling tight.
If you want to achieve long lean muscle, then it is important to stretch your muscles out to lengthen them, and yoga is a great way to do that.
Add in a yoga session or two per week. A good yoga class will help you build your strength, lengthen your muscles, recover from your additional workouts and it may even help you improve your performance when it comes to your other cardio/ strength based activities.
Watch Your Diet
Remember that a lot of the ‘health foods’ are actually really calorie dense, so keep that in mind every time you start looking for a snack between meals.
If you are having a protein ball as a snack, stop atone. If you are drinking a superfood smoothie, keep in mind that they tend to have as many calories in them as a meal so treat it like one.
It’s good to plan your meals in advance as having an action plan is a good way to prevent yourself from making poor food choices when you get hungry.
Also include things in your diet that boost your metabolism. Lemon, cayenne pepper and chilli are a good place to start.
Get Enough Sleep
Rest and recovery is important for everyone, especially if you want to lean up. It’s when you are resting that your body recovers and repairs, preparing you for the next workout and allowing everything to settle down.
If you skimp on your sleep, odds are you will start to feel tired and bloated which may also lead to you comfort eating/ snacking to try to get your energy levels back up.
Now your body is stressed because it is exhausted which will most likely raise your cortisol levels (stress hormone) and you are eating more than you need to.
It’s a vicious cycle!