Getting lean is the most sought after and rewarding outcome from training. It also provides a host of benefits:
- Losing weight shows off lean muscle (which motivates us to train harder);
- Being leaner makes us more insulin sensitive and less inflamed (which is healthier);
- Having less fat enhances the visible changes in tone/muscle development more easily (making it more rewarding).
Typically, we would recommend that getting relatively lean first is the best starting point for clients. Here are four reasons why we recommend getting leaner first:
- You will look better and feel more confident – this will increase your motivation to train hard and regularly – thus building a long-term exercise habit that is truly productive and rewarding.
- You will enhance your metabolism. Your resting metabolic rate will be higher (think more energy burned even at rest) and you will synthesize food better for improved energy and recovery. You will become more insulin sensitive which helps maximize the use of this most powerful of physique altering hormones. It will be easier to stay lean than it was to get lean!
- Your performance will improve. For example, all the major compound body-weight movements like chins, dips, lunges and supine rows will be achievable. You will be able to perform them at a higher intensity and volume, which can be incredibly powerful stimulants to the physique re-modelling process for both men and women (that’s right ladies – with the correct training you too can perform perfect chin-ups!). Your performance in the major lifts like squats, presses, and dead-lifts will accelerate and out-class the clear majority of recreational exercisers.
- Our happiest and most self-confident clients are those who get lean and stay lean! They have recorded a permanent reduction in body fat, an increase in lean muscle mass, and a decrease in circumference measurements.
It takes dedication, hard work, motivation, and for the clear majority it requires regular training from an experienced coach to achieve a lean physique – which is why at Ninth Wave we are the only studio in the area to specialize in supervised training. We have made it feasible and affordable for most people to receive regular, high quality coaching and get the results that they really want from exercise.