Gaining muscle while losing body fat is no easy task, everyone wants to do it, while few get it done as several challenges exist. A sound strategy must be put in place considering many individual factors including training experience, current diet, muscle imbalances, recovery capacity, injury status, sleep patterns and more.
Analyzing these details during the program design phase is vital and a continued evaluation of client feedback and progress is one vital element I use to accelerate client results.
While we cannot go into all of these details here I can at least present Big Time Strip training which is one of the successful strategies I used with your buddies mentioned above customized to each of their specific needs by modifying exercises, rep brackets, volume, rest periods and more.
"Scott a friend of mine (Randy) will be calling you soon as he spoke to Micky, Blake, Roy and I at the gym yesterday and told us how pissed he was about his lack of results in comparison to us. I have gained a full 2 inches on my arms while dropping massive fat and packing on 14 lbs of muscle.
Your protocols from start to finish have delivered, give Randy that compound program followed by strip sets - it is a killer and he needs some real training to catch up to us!" - Max, Chicago
Using compound movements with heavy loading not only burns a great deal of calories, but stimulates muscle growth by accessing the fast twitch muscle fibers with the greatest potential for growth.
As mentioned many times before short rest periods are a great method for increasing the hormones with the specific correlation to increasing rates of fat loss, however rest periods which are too short limit the amount of load you can use.
Big Time Strip training offers you the best of both worlds by starting the workout with moderate rest periods using compound movements in a superset format. The workout finishes with use of the cable weight stack which is great for easily adjusting weight without the need for a spotter or changing plates.
If you have ever done strip sets correctly you know they are quite the challenge, pivotal times will arrive when you feel like quitting due to sheer exhaustion, but consider the importance of your goals and do not let yourself quit!
In many years of coaching clients to be their best - I believe firmly that the ones who can give the extra 10% in the face of adversity see results much faster than their "softer" counterparts. I suggest that you do 1-2 prep sets to familiarize yourself with the movements of the strip set, find a load appropriate for 6-8 reps at controlled negative of 3 seconds.
It is vital that you start with the right load at the beginning of the strip set; otherwise the subsequent sets will be to light. You will strip the load 10-20% after the first set by adjusting the pins and bang out 6-8 reps, and repeat until you performed 3 phases to complete the set.
Dr. Serrano and I have been working for years to figure out what we can do to improve training performance and it struck us right in the face that the use of BCAAs and EAAs during training would have a huge impact on performance.
The body works very hard going through many time demanding steps to break down amino acids from food and in some situations your hard earned muscles so energy can be provided during the training session.
The BCAAs and EAAs together deliver an abundance of the specific amino acids ratios needed to fuel great performance with plenty of left over material to assist with new muscle growth and rapid recovery.
You cannot build more muscle without extra raw materials, while in theory it is difficult to lose body fat when extra raw materials are available sparing stored fat. Loading up with BCAAs and EAAs during training and between meals provides the solution to this problem as the dynamic muscle duo provides truck loads full of raw materials for muscle with little to no caloric burden.
Use the following workout program to help you burn fat and build muscle. Perform the first set of the exercise at a controlled tempo of 3 seconds on the negative. After your completed reps, strip the load 10-20% and continue with your second set. Continue with this pattern supersetting the corresponding letters (A1, A2, A3).
| Superset | Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| A1. | Triceps Dips | 3 | 4-6 | 75 |
| A2. | Barbell Shoulder Press | 3 | 4-6 | 75 |
| A3. | Preacher Curl | 3 | 4-6 | 75 |
| B1. | Triceps Rope Extension | 2 | 6-8 | 10 |
| B2. | Rope Hammer Curl | 2 | 6-8 | 10 |
| B3. | Cable Reverse Curl | 2 | 6-8 | 10 |
| B4. | Triceps Pushdown | 2 | 6-8 | 90 |
